An address to the people of the United States on the subject of the presidential election : with a special reference to the nomination of Andrew Jackson, containing sketches of his public and private character

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^^t Hibrarp

of tfje

Winihtx^itV «3f i^ottf) Carolina

Collection of iBtortfj Catolmiana

(gnbotoeb bp

Hfoftn ^prunt J^ill

a( tte Clasis; of ISSO

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UNIVERSITY OF N.C. AT CHAPEL HILL

00032195197

This book must not
be taken from the
Library building.

Form No. 471

AN

ADDRESS,

TO THE PEOPLE OF THE

TTWITED STATES,

ON THE SUBJECT OF THE

PRESIDENTIAIi EliECTION:
WITH A SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE NOMINATION

CONTAINING SKETCHES OF HIS PUBLIC AND
PRIVATE CHARACTER.

BY A CITIZEN OF THE UNITED STATES.

Courage may purchase Liberty, but Wisdom must perpetuate its duration.

PRINTED FOR THE PROPRIETOR.

1828,

Northern District of New-York, to wit.

SE IT REMEMBERED, That on the twenty-sixth day of February, in the fiftv-
«;pcond vear of the independence of the United States of America Joseph Colweil,
of the said district, hath deposited in th^^ office the title of a book, tHi right whereof
he claims as proprietor, in the words following:

"An address to the people of the United States, on the subject of the Presiden-
tJol riprtion with a special reference to the nomination of Andrew Jackson, con-
Vain m^r sketches of his public and private character. By a citizen of the United
States. Courage may purchase liberty, but wisdom must perpetuate its duration.''

¥n rnnformitv to the act of the Congress of the United States, entitled "An act
Mr thP Pncoura<-ement of learning by securing the copies of maps charts and books
^Vh^ authors and proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned,

ri^Un to an act; entitled 'An act for the encouragement of learning, by secur-
'^ thpronies of maps, charts and books, to the authors and proprietors of such
jng me cu^ tj^e times therein mentioned,' and extending the benefits thereof to
*^.®P'%1'. of deli-aing, engraving, and etching, historical and other prints."
I ho aris V o « RICHARD R. LANSING,

Clerk of the Northern District of New-York

TO THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES.

In a crreat and powerful republic of confederatea states, it is an ob-
iect of great political importance, that the choice of then- chief magis-
trate should be the result of wisdom, and of a pure and enl^tened
patriotism. The power necessarily appertment to ^^^^ c)^^\^^^;
oive to him an ascendancy in the councils of the cabinet, which
Siay characterize its policy and direct the course of its destmies It
will be in vain for us to calculate on the stability of our government, or
the permanency of its privileges, where the projects of intrigue, cabal
and corruption shall predominate in the choice of that otticer. l tie
lessons of history have furnished us with many demonstrations ot this
truth. From them we learn, that whatever of wisdom there may have
been in the constitutional provisions for the appointment ot their chiet
magistrates among the most celebrated republics of antiquity, the ad-
vantages they might have derived therefrom, were never long re amed
or enfoyed. Their misfortunes, and finally their rmn may be traced
to the convulsions and revolutions occasioned by a few corrupt, ambi^
tious and desperate individuals, combining their efforts for the avowed
purpose of elevating or reposing those, who at different periods and in
different forms, swaved the chief executive power. Although Amer-.
icans may boast of 'their great acquisitions in the science otselt gov-
ernment, they cannot, with confidence, indulge the belief, that theirs is
the native soil where political virtue is destined to perpetuate the bles-
sings of its existence. The history of our republic thus far has taught
us that we shall have to maintain a perpetual vigilance to counteract
the desicrns of unprincipled ambition. We have our Catalmes and
<>ur Neros in embryo, from whose nefai'ious designs nothing can save
us but the majesty of the laws and the virtue of the people. Unless
the condition of the civil state, as well as the tendency of the human
disposition are changed, we may expect there will for ever be a con-
test respecting the political cl^aracter of the president and ot his aa-
minisU-ation. Motives for such contests will not be wanting so long-
as men are ambitious, vindictive, and rapacious. However wise and
impartial may have been the distribution of offices at the disposal ot
the president, though he should pursue measures whicb the best mter-
est of the country seem to demand, and in every part of his adminis-
tration, display the character of an enlightened, wise and independent
magistrate; we are not to expect the dispositions of aspirmg and un-
principled ambition, will thereby be transformed into those ot wisdom,
and virtue and moderation. , . • u .

Political wisdom, integrity and distinguished patriotism, have not
always been duly appreciated in the councils of our cabinet. It may
^ be well to call to our recoUection one attestation of this truth,^contamed
1. in a letter written by president Washington to Mr. Jeffefsorv/dur^ingthe

third year of the second term of his presidency, of which the following
is an extract.

^•Until the last year or two. I had no conception that parties would,
or ever could go the lengths J have been witness to. Nor did I be-
lieve, until lately, that it was within the bounds of probability, hardly
within those of possibility, that while I was using ray utmost exertions,
to establish a national character of our own, independent, as far as
our obligations would admit, of every other nation of the earth; and
wished, by steering a steady course to preserve this country from the
horrors of a desolating war, 1 should be accused of being the enemy
of one nation, and subject to the will of another. And to prove it,
that every act of my uc! ministration would be*t©itured, and the gross-
est and most insidious misrepresentations of them be made by giving
one side only of a subject, and thut in such exaggerated terms, as
could scarcely be applied to a Nero, to a defaulter, or to a common
pick-pocket."

Here we have the testimony of as perfect a man as any of which the
world could ever boast, respecting the opposition to his administra-
tion, and that too in the very infancy of our republic. When therefore
an opposition is excited against the president, for reasons which are
not generally understood, and for pretended evils, the existence or
the approach of which the people neither feel nor apprehend, it is a
duty which they owe to themselves, and to the honour and interest of
their country, to investigate the causes of this opposition, and the ob-
ject of those by whom it is assailed. It may ever be expected, there
will be more than one candidate for the first office in the gift of the
people; and the transcendant honors and privileges which appertain to
it. will excite an interest which the people cannot but feel; and may
t^timulate to efforts which they should not encourage. In the compli-
cated concerns of our extensive and powerful republic of confederated
j-tates,the operations of government require a great number of officers,
who must depend on the patronage of the president for the acquisition
and the tenure of their offices; these must be selected from the people,
and it is very obvious that by ^u- the greater number of applicants for
places in the various departments, must be disappointed. Defeated
expectations, in numerous instances, will generate disaffection to the
administration; and opposition to it, and especially to the chief magis-
trate, v.j,ho is supposed to have the most efficient agency in defeating
their hopes, is one in the usual course of political events, and in ac-
cordance with the human disposition.. In every district of our coun-
try, disappointed expectants of presidential patronage are to be found,
"who will exert themselves to excite disaffection and enlist the unsus-
pecting freemen under the banners of opposition; and actuated as they
arc by ambitious, vindictive and rapacious dispositions, it may be ex-
pected they will exert all their faculties to mislead the people, and cn-
garje thf m in their \ lews of personal preferment.

It is therefore from the wisdom and integrity of those who aic not
expectants of office, who are not corrupted with the contaminating in-
flwenrc of power, nor duped by the insidious arts of intrigue, and the ''^
impostors of pretended patriotism, that we may expect a correct an(H-

dlgnhied decision ot* the important question, relative to the approacli-
ing election of a chief magistrate. Possessing equal means of infor-
mation, and no interest in the event, but that which is common to their
country, they would be well agreed, that to be properly qualified for
that hio-h office, the candidate should have a correct and extensive
knowledge of the history of our political state; and that to enable him
to regulate our intercourse with foreign nations, he should be conver-
sant with the nature and policy of their governments, and the princi-
ples and complicated systems by which the course of their administra-
tion is directed ; also with the general laws and maxims, which should
govern the conduct of. independent Rations toward each other ; that
his discussions of national subjects should be distinguished for sci-
ence, Yor candor and tirm.ness. In short, that his experience in the
concerns of civil government, and hia capacity should be such, as to
enable him to discern the great objects which relate to the interest
of his country ; and that he should evince a disposition steadfastly to
pursue it, unawed and undisturbed, by the discordant and importunate
clamors, and insidious pretences of disappointed expectants, and that
a pure and dignified deportment should mai'k his habits and manners.

These quahfications, it is believed, are permai.ently exemplified in
the character of Mr. Adams, the present chief magistrate. Through
all the fluctuations of public opinion, and changes in the administra-
tion, occasioned by party dissensions or other causes, Mr. Adams has
possessed the uninterrupted confidence of the public, and pursued
.an undeviating and dignified co'irse, in discharging the duties of sev-
eral highly responsible offices, both in our own and foreign countries.
At an early period of his life, he was appointed by President Wash-
ington, in 1794. minister to the Hagu ; in 1796, minister to Lisbon.
Before he entered on the duties of that office, he was, upon the strong
and decided recommendation of President Washington, transferred by
President Adams, to the court *of Berlin, where he remained until 1801.
When he returned to his own country in 1802, he was elected a mem-
ber of the senate of Massachusetts. In 1803, he was el«cted a sena-
tor in Congress, which office he resigned in 1808. In 1809 he was
nominated by President Jefferson, minister to Russia, but the senate
decided that the mission at that time was inexpedient. .In 1811, he
was nominated by President Madison, for the same mission, and the
senate confirmed the appointment. In the same year, after he left the
coimtry, he was appointed a Judge of the Supreme Court of the Uni-
ted States, but did not accept the appointment, and Judge Story was
appointed. In 1813 he was appointed one of the commissioners to
negotiate the treaty of peace with Great Britain, which was afterwards
concluded at Ghent, in conjunction vvith JMessrs. Gallatin, Bayard,
Clay, and Russel. In 1815, he negotiated a treaty of commerce with
Great Britain, in conjunction with Messrs. Gallatin and Clay, and was
continued minister to that court until 1817, when he was appointed by
President IMonroe, Secretary of State, which last office he held until
he was appointed to the office of Chief Magistrate.

The ability and fidelity with which he discharged the arduous du-
ties of these several offices-, has furnished the most ample attestations

&

^n

of his merit, and that he has well deserved the confidence which has
elevated him to the summit of his country's honors.

It is well known that immediately after the elevation of Mr. Adams
to the Presidency, a party was organized in Congress, for the obvious
pur}X)se of uniting their efforts to alienate the confidence of the peo-
ple from him, and his administration, and thereby defeating his re-elec-
tion, and of promoting to that ofhce some oiher candidate more agree-
able to their views and interests. The people, therefore, should under-
stand the object of those whose efforts are thus directed against him ;
and A'ho have evinced a disposition to place in that office, Gen. An-
drew Jackson. Although others have been nominated, and may liere-
after be proposed as candidates for the Presidency, it is believed that
the nomination of Ge«. Jackson, has enstamped on the opposers of
Mr. Adams, a character not ominous of good, nor honorable to tlie
republic. The author of this pi per would make no comments on tlie
qualifications of other candidates than Gen. Jackson.

It is acknowledged that there are many others who might fill that
office, with the approbation of the people, and honor to themselves.
But when the opposers of Mr. Adams discovered among their num-
ber, those who were making efforts, with too much prospect of suc-
cess, for a m n like Gen. Jackson, it was hazarding too much, to
contribute any thing which might tend to facilitate the election of a
man both dangerous to our liberties, and dishonorable to the charac-
ter of our country.

Since th^ man \\ ho v.as not extensively known to the people of the
United States, until the eighth of January, 1815, has consented to be
considered a candidate for the office of chief magistrate, he will doubt-
less expect that some prominent traits of his character, and incidents
of his hfe, will be exhibited to pubhc view ; that the people, whose
political interest and national character is, to be affected by the admin-
istration, may be 'enabled to duly appreciate the quahfications^ of the
man, who would be placed at the head of it.

It appears from the biography of Gen. Jackson, that in early life he
commenced the practice of law in the state of Tennessee, was elected
a member of the convention, and contributed a share in the formation
of the constitution of that state ; was afterwards elected a member of
the Legislature, and from thence transferred to the senate of the Uni-
ted States ; afterwards appointed a Judge of the Supreme Court of
law and equity, and after giving up this last office, that he turned his
attention to the military art, and rose to the rank of Major General of
the militia.

In these several stations, it does not appear that he acquitted himself
with more ability or celebrity than hundreds of others, who, in their
respective states, have passed through the same grades of office, with
honor to themselves, as it is said he did ; no extraordinaiy trait had
thus far so distinguished him, as to give him a claim to the first office
in the gift of the people. He first became conspicuous throughout
the Union by his military achievements in our last war with Great Brit-
ain. In this war he distinguished himself as a brave man. In his
military con' ■'ft. |u> pvinrod a capacity, and a disposition to engage

L r J

in those arduous and desperate enterprizes which aie otien necessary
to the safety and independence of a government. In that war he ac-
quired the fame that is due to the HerO; and which often confers upon

him durable glory. , ,. i

But the military achievements of any man, however splendid may
have been the efforts which have*inarked their cause, should never give
to their author, any claim to the first office among the civil magis-
trates of his counft-y. It was not the military exploits alone, even of
the immortal Washington, which gave to him a pre-eminent claim to
the first civil honors. He was distinguished for those rare and pecul-
iar characteristics which qualified him to adorn and bless society, either
in private or public stations ; and by his unparalleled efforts in the ac-
quisition of our independence, was well entitled to all the honors
which his country could confer. The advocates for Gen. Jackson,
cannot pretend that in the performance of the various civil offices
which he has filled, he ever evinced those extraordinary qualities
which should distinguish a candidate for the office of chief magistrate.
It is unfortunate for him, that the military achievements which first
gave general celebrity to his character, gave publicity also, to his vi-
ces and errors ; and over which the veil tl at covers human infirmi-
ties might have been thrown, had not an effort been made to intrude
him into a-place, for which, in the destmies of our republic, he could
never have been designed. Gen. Jackson is highly reputed, by his
political advocates, for decision of character, which is considered an
important qualification in the character of a chief magistrate. But
it should be remarked, the decision requisite for that office, should be
preceded by cool, candid, and judicious deliberation. It has, how-
ever, been discovered, that Gen. Jackson decides from the impulse of
the moment, rashly, and without consideration ; that his decision of
character, arises from an impetuous temper, which always exposes
one who is exercised with it, to make incorrect and unjust decisions ;
and which not only exposes him, but has often impelled him to the
commission of errors, and even of crimes, which should disqualify
him for any important civil office, and even from all confidence,
which a sense of moral obligation should inspire. That from the ir-
ritability of his constitution, and an untoward disposition, he does not
control the first impulse of his temper, but has indulged it in repeated
** acts, of violence, in defiance of the laws of his country, and against
the dictates of humanity. Abundant attestations of this fact are be-
fore the public.

Col. Benton has attested, that in the year 1812, Gen. Jackson, with
some of his friends, came to the house in Nashville, where he was,
and commenced an attack upon him, by levelling a pistol at him, when
he had no weapon of defence drawn, and advanced upon him with a
quick pace, without giving him time to draw one ; that an affray
thereupon commenced between hhn and Gen. Jackson, and their res-
pective friends, in which several pistols were discharged, one by Gen,
Jackson at him. Col. Benton, whose life he obviously intended to des-
tro-r, and from which he was probably prevented, by being disabled by
a pistol shot fro^m Col. Bentou's brother. It is not thought necessary

[8]

to detail all the particular facts relating to this horrible outrage, as stat-
ed by Col. Benton, but only to attest the fact, that Gen. Jackson is
governed by an impetuous temper, which render^ hnn a dangerous
man, even in private life, and that the people may be enabled duly to
appreciate- his decision of character, so much extolled by his advocates.
But it was in the exercise of militaf)^ power, and administration of
martini law, that he, while reaping the laurels of heroic fame, exhibited
to view a political character which should fore ve» exclude him from
the confidence of a wise people.

It appears from the following account that Gen. Jackson, from his
entire dereliction of principle, which should govern the conduct of
men in the civil state, cannot be intrusted with any power, either civil
or military. It is well known^ that in our last war with Great Britain,
in the year 1814, a detachment of Tennessee militia was drafted by
order of Governor Blount, who arrived at their place of rendezvous
on the 20th of June, the same year. The privates were told by their
officers, a Captain and Lieutenant, that by the existing I avs of their
own state, as well as of the United States, they could only be compell-
ed to serve for three months. Supposing therefore their tour of duty
was completed, on the 20th of the then next September, upwards of
two hundred of them dehvered up their muskets, drew their rations,
and set out for home. But having received advice on their way, that
they were wrong in supposing their time of service had expired, they
were honestly returning to their encampment, when by order of Gen.
Jackson, they were arrested, charged v/ith mutiny, and brought to tri-
al before a court martial.

The officers by whose advice the men had acted, and who were
convicted of having excited and connived at the mutiny charged, were
simply dismiss-ed from the service ; about two hundred others were
sentenced to make good the time they had lost, and {;t the expiration of
their service, to have their heads shaved, and to be drummed out of
camp ; and six were condemned to suffer death. These sentences
could not be operative without the sanction of Gen. Jackson, but that
sanction was given by him on the 22d of January, 1815, and carried
into effect. But th» fact is well ascertained, that the men thus sen-
tenced and punished by order of Gen. Jackson, did not mis-conceive
their rights, when they left the army at the end of their three months.
The law of 1795, limits the term of miUtary duty, to a period of, three
months. The law of the 10th of April, 1812, by which the term of
service was extended to six months, expired by its own provisions, on
the 10th of April, 1814. The men in question were detailed for duty
after the expiration of this law, namely in May, 1814. Every sub-
sequent draft could be held to serve only for three months, unless un-
der the provisions of a law, passed on the 1 8th of April, 1814, the
President of the United States should expressly order a continuance
of the term ; and such an order in this case has not be«n pretended.
On the contrary, the President of the United States, expressly direct-
ed Governor Blount to consider his draft of militia as called out
under the law of 1795, and gives as his reason for so doing, his re-
liance on the patriotism of the citizens of Tennessee, to fill up ihf
ranks as occasion might require.

. L '^ J

Thus it appears, that while Gen. Jackson was achievemg Oie miiita
rv 2lory which his poUtical advocates would contend has entitWhim
to the first civil honors of his country, he has heen proved to have
condemned six men to death, and nearly two hundred others to an ig^
nominrous punishment, not only against the plamest dictates of mercy
and humanity, but in direct violation ot the laws ^>[ ^f ^^^"f T '. ^^.^
It will be understood by the American people, that the admmistia-
tion of martial law, is to be resorted to, only in extraordinary cu-cum-
iances when the public safety requires it. On the 22d of January,
is" Xd^^^^^^^ the invasion of New-Orleans by the enemy was

at an end. The signal victory obtained over them, was on the 8th ot
^he same January ; and in a letter to the Secretary at War dated the
19th of January, three days before he gave his sanction to the sen-
tence of those unfortunate men, he expressly declares that all danger
from an invading enemy, in that part of the country, was at an end ;
or, to use his own words, '^ I believe you will not believe me oo san-
auineiii the belief, that Louisiana is now clear of its enemies. Had
t'hose men,therefore, whom he sentenced to an ignominious punishment,
and to deatJh, actually been guilty, accordi-ig to the usages of war,
and the principles which should govern those who are clothed with au-
thority, it was his imperious duty to have pardoned them. The lea-
son of the severities of the martial law, had ceased; the operations of
the law should therefore have ceased, and its penalties should have
been dispensed with. Had he exercised a small portion of that delib-
erative wisdom, which should distinguish a man in any ^^P^'^^^'^f
fice ither civil or military, he might have avoided the imputation ot
havin- thus trampled upon the laws of his country. and of humanity
Du?m- the revolutionary war, of eight years continuance, it is well
laiown tnat our country had every where scattered over its extensive
t-rritory, those who were unfriendly to the American cause, and were
dispo.edto render the enemies of our country every possible aid;
and du"in2 that war hundreds of our militia men, left the camp, and
returned home before the time for which they had been dra:ted had
expired; and in some instances, in the very face of the enemy; yet
the great and gallant Washington, whose name has been too oiten
profaned, by using it in connection with Gen. Jackson's never once
proclaimed martial law ; neither was a militiaman ever shot by hii.-Cri^

The conduct of Gen. Jackson, in the condemnation and execution
of Aburthnot and Amhrister, was also highly <''l^«''a'='^"^''<^^,° f''
tyrant. They were tried for an alleged cnme, by a court m^'^^l, m-
Btituted by him for that purpose, and by that court convicted and sen-
tenced tol punishment not capital. Gen. Jackson m contem^^f the
proceedings of the court and the sentence they had 'ho«|l P o|. o
pass, immediately ordered the accused to be punished V lUu^^ath.
which was by his order inflicted, on the morni-.g of tne next day.

The maxtfal law, according to the usages ot war amoftg omhzed
nations, cannot, consistently with tte r.ghts of men «l'^/'-'^.';f P* f
like oui's, be enforced, until those who are accused of havmg mcur-
ved its penalties, are first found guilty bv the sentence of o. court, con

' 10 _

sisuii" v)f olBctTa appuiiiitu by the coinuianaer-^n-ciiiei ; \vuo ait; Hi-
so to aflix to the conviction, the punic^hnicnt to be inflicted. This
sentence he may aftirm, or he may refuse to affirm it, and in that case,
the sentence cannot be enforced. But if he disregards the sentence
of the court, and passes on the accused a diiferent one, he thereby
renders himself a tyrant, and evinces a disposition not to be governed
by any law, except his own despotic will. It may be true, that Ara-
brister and Aburthnot well deserved the punishment of death ; but it
is verv obvious that Gen. Jackson inflicted that punishment, without
any right vested in him, either by virtue of his military commission,
or the laws of his country.

His conduct towards the French Consul, and the French Aliens,
then resident at New-Orleans, not only exceeded his power as a mili-
tary chief, but was in direct violation of the law of nations. Cheva-
lier Tousard, the French Consul, had furnished a portion of the
French residents at New-Orleans with certificates of French citizen-
ship, which exempted them from military duty, and which exemption
they had a right to claim, according to the law of nations. These
certificates Gen. Jackson could not disapprove, but under the colour
of martial law, he banished those who had thus obtained them, to a
place called Baton Rouge, 120 miles from New-Orleans, in the interi-
or, and arrested and imprisoned Tousard the Consul, for no other of-
fence but that of claiming an exeAiption from militaj-y duty, for the
French ahens ; to do w^hich, he had not only a right, but was impelled
in the discharge of his official duty. But the person of an ambassa-
dor or other public minister, autliorised and received as such, by the
President of the United States, is not liable to arrest or imprisonment,
but is exempted therefrora, both by the law of nations, and by a law
of the United States. If he even commits a capital offence, or makes
an ill use of his character, he may be sent home, and accused by the
o-overnmcnt who sent him, which is bound to do justice to him, or
avows itself the accomplice of his crime.

About the same time these extraordinary measures were prosecut-
ino-, a member of the Legislature, by the name of Lauailher, had
published in a New-Orleans Gazette, an article of which Gen. Jack-
son did not approve ;* he therefore immediately ordered him to be ar-

*Tlie article jtiluded to, contains some strictjires on the conduct of Gen. Jackson
in banishinff the French aliens from New-Orleans, published in a paper called the
"Louisiana Courier." The following- is a copy of the article for which Lauaillier
was tried by a court miTftial by Gen .Jackson's order.

"Mr. Editor To rem<i.'u silent on the last general order, directinj;;^ ail the

Frenphraen who now reside iil iXew-Orleans, to leave it in three; days, and to keep
at a distance of 120 miles of it, wcJt'ld be an act of cowardice, which ogght not to
he expected from a citizen of a free ccSi'ntry ; and when every one laments sucl:
;>M abv^e of authority, the press ought to de"r?ounce it to the people.

"{rt <5\ '^<?r to encourage a communication between both countries, the 7th and
•^th articles «f the treaty or cession, secure to the French, who shall coriie to Lou-
isiana certain commercial advanta°es which they are to cnjny during the term
of twelve years, which are not ^et expired. At the expiration of that term, they

-).iin he treated' in the same manner, as the most favored nation — a p'-iace whicli

^mp.rlcan govcrnmeBt in its reialiou with ibrei-sn nations.

rested and confined, and to be tried as for a capital offence ; \\ here-
upon Lauaillier by his counsel made application to Dominic A. Hall,
Judge of the district, for a writ of Habeas-Corpus for his enlarge-
ment. The writ was immediately issued by the Judge, directed to
Gen. Jackson, commanding him to show reasons for the detention of
this legislator. The Marshal who served the writ, gave it to Gen.
Jackson for his perusal, at his request, who refused to redeliver it to
the Marshal. But instead of obeying the command of the writ, and
appearing before the court to make his defence, he immediately order-
ed the Judge to be arrested, for issuing the writ of Habeus-Corpus,
and sent out of the city.

It should be remarked for the information of^ those who are not
learned in the law, that the writ of Habeas-Corpus is a privilege of
the citizen, demandable of common right, by any person who is im-
prisoned, whether under color of authority, or without it, unless the
imprisonment be on execution, or on conviction of some crime. It is
directet! to the person who has the custody of the prisoner, or com-
plainant, with a command to bring him before the court with the cause
of his detention. When the person imprisoned is brought before the
court with a return of the cause of his detention, it is the duty of the
court to examine whether the cause be illegal ; and if so found, may
discharge him, or otherwise remand him to prison. This writ is of
great importance, in securing the personal lilDerty of the citizens ; and
the right to suspend the issuing it, can only be vested in the highest

legislative authority in the government.

/-
In such circumstances, what can be tlie motives which have induced the coin-
mander-in-chief of (he 7th military district, to issue general orders of so vexa-
tious a nature? When the foreigners of every nation, when the Spaniards, and
even the English are suffered to remain unmolested among us, shall the French
alone be condemned to ostracism, because they rendered too great services ? Had
they remained gentle spectators of the last events, could their sentiments towards
us be doubted, then vve might merely be surprized at the course now followed
with regard to them. But how are we to refrain our indignation when we remem,-
ber that these very Frenchmen, who aie now to be exiled have so powerfully
<:ontributed to the preservation of Louisiana, without speaking of the corps who
so eminently distinguished themselves, and in which we see a number of French-
men, rank either as officers or privates ; how can we forget that they were Fiench
artillerists who directed and served a part of those pieces of cannon which so
greatly annoyed the British forces ? can any one flatter himself that so important
services could have so soon been forgotten ? No : they are engraved in everlasr-
ing characters, in the hearts of al' the inhabitants of Louisiana, and they shall
perform a brilliant part in the history of their country; and when those brave
men ask no other reward, but being permitted peaceably to enjoy among us the
rights secured to them by treaties, and the laws of America, far from sharing in
the sentiments which have dictated the general order, we avail ourselves of this
opportunity to give them a public testimony of our gi'atitude. Far from us the
idea that there be a single Frenchman so pusillanimous as to forsake his country
merely to please the military commander of this distrnct, and in order to avoid
the proscription to which he has chosen to condemn them ; we may therefore ex-
pect to see them all repair to the Consul of their nation, there to renew the act
which binds them to their country ; but in supposing that in jdelding to a senti-
ment of fear, they consent to cease to be French citizens, could they by such an
abjuration, become American citizens? No, certainly they could not; the man
who would be powerful enough to denationalize them, would not be powerful
enough to give them a country. It is better, therefore, for a man to remain a
faithuil Frenchman, than to suffer himself to be scared even by the martial law ;
a law useless when the presence of the foe and honor call us to arms ; but which
becomes degrading when their shameful flight suffer us to enjoy a glorious rest,
which fear and terror ought not to disturb. But could it be possible that tlV;

L i^ J

In the case of Lauaillier, Judge Hall could not be justilied in sus-
pending the issuing of the writ of Habeas Corpus, without being au-
thorised so to do, by a law of Congress for that express purpose.
Without such a law, the President of the United States could not sus-
pend the issuing of such a writ, when it was demanded ; and Con-
gress never have, and probably never will make a law so repugnant
to the constitution. Yet Judge Hall was arrested by Gen. Jackson
and committed to custody, for no other offence, whatever, but the is-
suing 01 this writ to effect the release of Lauaiiliar from an illegal ini-
prif ontnent. An application was then made by a Mr. Dick, the dis-
trict attorney, at the request of Judge Hall, for a writ of Habeas-Cor-
pus, to effect his. Judge Hall's, liberation, and Gen. Jackson immedi-
ately arrested Mr. Dick, for making the application, and delivered to
an officer an order to arrest Judge Lewis for granting the writ ! ! !

According to the usages and articles of war, whenever a military
chief has evidence that any one under his command is guilty of mu-
tinous or tratorous conduct, or disobedience of orders, he may inflict

<;oiisiitutioti and the laws of our country ohould have left it in the power of the
several commanders of military districts', to dissolve all at once the ties of friend-
ship which unite America to the nations of Europe ; eould it be possible that
peace or war could depend upon their caprice and the friendship or enmity they
might entertain for any nation? We do not hesitate in declaring, that nothing of
the kind exists. The President alone has, by iVw. the right to adopt against alien
enemies, such measures as the state of war may render necessary ; and for that
purpose he must issue a proclamation*; but this'is a power which he cannot dele-
gate. It IS by virtue of that law and of a proclamation, that the subjects of
Great Britain were removed from our ports and sea f>>hores. But we do not know
any law authoiizing Gen. Jackson to apply to alien friends a measure which the
President of the United'States himself has only the right to adopt against alien
enemies.

Our laws protect strangers who come to reside among us. To the sovereign
alone, belongs tlie right of depriving them of that ptotection ; and all those who
know how to appreciate the title of an American citizen and who are acquainted
with their prerogatives, will sfiasily understand that by the Sovereign, I do by
no means intend ro designate ^TMajor General or any other military commander,
to whom I willingly grant the power of issuing general orders like the one in
question, but to whom I deny that of having them executed.

If the last general order has no other object but to inspire in us a salutary fear,
if it is only destined to be read, if it is not to be followed by any act of violence,
if it is only to be executed by those who may choose to leave the city in order to
enjoy the pure air of the country, we shall forget that extraordinary order j but
should any thing else happen, we are of opinion that the tribunals shall, soor^er
or later, do justice to the victims of that illegal order Every alien friend who
.shall continue to respect the laws which rule our country, shall continue to be en-
titled to their protection. Could that general order berf^plied to us, we should
calmly wait until we were forced by violence to execute it. well convinced of the
firmness of the magistrates, who are the organs of the laws in this part of the
union, and the guardians of public order

Let us conclude by saying, it is high time the laws should resume their empire;
that the citizens of this state should return to the full enjoyment of their rights;
that in acknov\ledgipg we are indebted to Gen. Jackson for the preset vation of
our city, and the defeat of the British, we do not feel much inclined through grati-
,tude, to sacrifice any of our privileges, and less than any other, that of express-
ing our opinion about the acts of his administration ; that it is time the citizens,
accused of any crime, should be rendered to tlieir natural judges, and were to be
brouglit before special or military tribunals, a kind of institutions held in ahhor-
Tence, even in absolute governments ; and that after having done enough for glory,-
the tnoment of moderation has arrived; and finally that the acts of authority
which the invasion of our country and our safety may have rendered necessary,
are since the evacuation of it by the enemv, no longer compatible with our digni-
ty and our oath of makinc: the constitution respectvd.

L 1^ J

upon liim a punishment proportioned to the offence, withoiu proclaunni^
martial law That is necessary only when it is intended to extend its
jurisdiction over the civil rights of the citizens ; to suspend the ope-
rations of the legislative and judiciary departments of the govern-
ment, and to subject the people to the regulations and discipline of
the camp. This was evidently the object pf Gen. Jackson. He told
Major Claiborn, that while martial law existed, no one should be above
him. But in the republic of the United States, or indeed in any oth-
er government which is not purely military, the jurisdiction ''of mar-
tial law cannot be extended to those who are not actually in militarv
service, and under the command of a military chief.

13y the 7th article of the amendments, now a part of the constitu-
tion of the United States, it is provided that no person shall be held
to answer for a capital or otherwise infamous offence, unless on a
presentation or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in
the land or naval forces, or in the militia when in actual service in
time of war, or public danger, and by the same article it is also provid-
ed that no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without
due course of law.

It was never intended by the constitution, to give to any military
chief discretionary power to interfere with the civil rights of the peo-
ple. That this was not the view that Congress had of the extent of
military power, is obvious from an act of Congress, passed the 10th
day of April, 1806; thereby it is enacted, that in time of war, all
persons not citizens of, or owing allegiance to the United States of
America, who shall be found lurking as spies, in or ab^ut the fortify-
cations or encampments of the armies of the United States, or any of I
them, shall suffer death according to the law and usages of nations, I
by sentence of a general court mai'tial. It is very obvious it was
ever considered by Congress that the constitution of the United
States, had excluded any and every military chief from extendino- the
jurisdiction of martial law to any person whatever, who was not in
actual service, unless such persons were designated by a law enacted
for that express purpose ; and by this act it appears the persons de-
signated are not only aliens not owing allegiance to the United States
but who are to be identified as spies, and when found guilty, the law
affixes the punishment of death. It was under the pretended authori-
ty of this law, that Gen. Jackson sent the French aliens to Baton
Rouge, without conviction of guilt, and without a trial. No descrip-
tion of persons could be considered more amenable to the jurisdiction
of a court martial, than alien spies, and yet it was thought necessary
by C ngress, to pass a special act for the purpose of authorising their
trial and conviction by a court martial.

It appears then, that in the face of our government, and in the midst
of a people who admit no power above the laws, an individual has
been permitted with impunity, under the color of mihtary authority,
to sport with the lives and liberties of our citizens.

There may be circumstances attending the events of war, in which
the public danger might be so alarming as to justify a military com-
mander in a momentary sacrifice of the civil riohts of individuals :

I

» ±4

/

when the preservation of the country might require it. But in sucli
extreme exigencies, the necessity of resorting to extraordinary nieeis-
ures, sliould be such ?.s to admit of the clearest demonstration. ' From
pretended apprehensions, that such danger is approaching, or to guard
against what might be considered well founded suspicions, it was nev-
er intended by the constitution or the policy of our government, that
a military chief, in time of war, may at his discretion, put down the
civil administration, ^y a proclamation of martial law.

By referring to the dates of events attending his administration of
martial law, it will appear that any of the violations of the rights of
the citizens he committed under the color of that law, could not have
been dictated by a sense of public danger ; that the public safety did
not require them. .

It is well knov/n that the proclamation of martial law was made on
the 15th of December, 1814; and the celebrated victory, as has been
remarked, v.'as on the Sth of January following. The articles of
peace were signed at Ghent, on the 24th of December, 1814, and rat-
ified by the president of the United States, on the 1 7th of the Febru-
ary next Ibllowing.

It has been already shown, that on the 22d of January, 1815, when
he inflicted the punishment oi death on the six militiamen, and an igno-
minious punishment on about two hundred others, it could not, as his
friends have urged, be considered a necessary measure of defence
against the enemy, dictated by a sense of danger, since he, on the 19th
of January, had written to the Secretary of war, that at that time Lou-
isiana was clear of its enemies.

On the 7th of the March next following, he received conclusive e\ -
idenpe from the seat of government, that peace was ratified between
the United States and Great Britain. But Lauaillier, on the 4th of the
same month, when he was a member of the Legislature, was, by or-
der of Gen. Jackson, arrested, imprisoned, and ordered for trial by
his court martial. On the llth of the same month, Judge Hall was
arrested and sent out of the city, and kept in custody, for issuing
the writ of Habeas-Corpus, which has been mentioned, for the release
of LaualUer. The order for the removal of the French aliens, and
the imprisonment of the French Consul which has been mentioned,
was made on the 28th of January, 1815, nine days after the enemy
were gone. The French aliens were not permitted to return to New-
Orleans, until the 8<h of March, nineteen days after the ratification of
the treaty by the president ; and the French Consul was not discharg-
ed until the 13th of March. Tousard was the friend of La Fayette,
and was maimed in our revolutionary war.

Immediately after the llth of the same March, l\Ir. Dick, the
district attorney, was arrested and imprisoned for making appli-
cation to Judge Lewis for a writ of Habeas-Corpus, for the re-
lief of Judge Hall, and an order also was by order of Gen. Jackson
delivered to an officer for the arrest of Judge Lewis, for issuing the
writ. It is not known by the author of these remarks, that Judge
Lewis was arrested on this last order. The officer who received the
order misht have been deterred from contributing his aid to such ille-

[ li J

gal and disgraceilil proceedings, or might not have had an opportuni-
ty to have executed the order before the 13th of JMarch, after which
time Gen. Jackson could no longer conceal the fact that peace had
taken place, and was therefore, on that day, forced to the necessity of
publishing the news of peace, and revoking his order ior the procla-
mation of martial law. ^ I have said that he was forced to this measure,
because it appears from the whole course of his administration of that
law, he exliibited such a predominant disposition to make a wanton
and supercilious display of his military power over the civil rights
of the citizens, and that too after the reasons which he had himself
assigned for the order of martial law had ceased ; he must with reluc-
tance have parted with that power, especially when he had just reason
to expect that when he could no longer be protected in his mad ca-
reer by the event of war, he should have to surrender himself to the
justice of an indignant, insulted, and abused people ; and the people
of the United States have cause to exult in the recollection, that one
magistrate has been found, v/ho hastened to wipe away the stain upon
our national honor,- and to avenge the insulted dignity of the laws of
the republic. The Hon. Judge Hall, being released from his imprii?-
onment by the proclamation of peace, which was made on the 13th of
March, issued his warrant for the arrest of Gen. Jackson, on the 3 1st
of the same month, whereupon he was brought before the court, iln
which Judge Hall presided, and was put upon his trial, on a chargie,
that while the Judge of the United States was exercising one of the
most important functions of his office, he was imprisoned, by order of
the General, that the process of the court was treated with disrespect,
that the officers of the court were menaced, and finally, that by threats
and violence, the course of justice was obstructed. After havin/-^
heard his defence, the Judge imposed on him a fine of one thousand
dollars.

The government of the United States, from extreme indulgence, m
consideration of his energetic and heroic achievements in defendino-
his country, have hitherto spared him from that punishment, which, by
the violated laws of his country, they might in justice have inflicted.

It was indeed an unfortunate event, when only thirty-eight years of
our existence as free and independent states, had elapsed, our govern-
ment was impelled by imperious circumstances, either to inflict an
exemplary punishment on a military chief who by his brave achieve-
ments, had rendered important services to his country, or permit an
individual with impunity, wantonly to violate the fundamental, princi-
ples of the constitution and laws of the republic. To inflict the pun-
ishment, might incur, however unjustly, the imputation of ingratitude
from an important and essential department of the government. To
acquiesce in his guilt, would be establishing a prescedent, which in
some future period, might encourage an exertion of military power, that
in case of a long protracted war, might prove fatal to liberty. The
evils resulting from this dilemma of circumstances, might in some
degree have been alleviated, by the oblivion of their author.

But since it is proposed by a few individ?ials. to elevate h'm from
The infamy to which his vices and his crimes had assigned him, to the

lirst otiice in the government, he must be brought beibre the tribunal
ot" pubUc opinion for his trial, and it is behoved the people will do
liim that justice, from which his advocates have intended to screen
him.

Enough has already been exhibited, respecting the public character
of Gen. Jackson, to exclude him forever from the confidence of the
people. No one, whose mind is not blinded by passion, or prejudice,
or interest, can believe that a sense of patriotism, of expediency, or
even of mistaken policy, could have been the cause of the vices, the
errors, and the crimes, of which he was guilty, in the discharge of
his official duties. From the very texture of his constititution, as well
as from pernicious habits, and manners, and principles, contracted in
early life, he has been formed for a tyrant, and the sword of a military
despot, is the sceptre he would wield.

In his private conduct and intercourse with his fellow men, he has
exhibited an impetuous and ungovernable temper ; a savage and dan-
gerous disposition.

His conduct in the Seminole war, identified his character with that
of his savage foes ; yet because Mr. senator Eppes and Ldcock
dared to make some appropriate strictures in relation to it, he threat-
ened to drag the former from his seat, and threatened personal violence
to the latter.

Under the delusive guise of chi%alric honor, he has from his youth
bQen in the habit of indulging his malignant temper in acts of vio
elnce. The details ot the numerous iastances in which he has enter-
ed the field of private combat, and the suffering and misery he has
thereby occasioned to the victims of his vengeance, and tfieir survi-
vino- relatives, would b,e revolting to humanity. His affair of honor
with Charles Dickerson, is enough to furnish a striking specimen of
the depravity and meannes of his private character.

It appears that in the summer of I 806, Gen. Jac^:s6n ofFere' to bet
five thousand dollars with Charles Dickerson, that his (the General's)
horse would beat Dickerson's in rumiuig the four mile heats ; which
ofier was accepted. Dickerson's rider, said he lost the race by foul
play ; and that Gen. Jackson's rider jostltid him near the close of the
last round. Gen. Jackst&n, on hearing this charge, said he would
hold any man responsible who dared to accuse his rider with foul
play ; whereupon a quarrel arose between them, Avhich ended in Gen.
Jackson's sen ling Dickerson a challenge, which was accepted. The
formalities attending this combat have been differently detailed ; but
the result was, that he killed Dickerson under circumstances shocking
to humanity.

Gen. Jackson, in his correspondence with President Monroe, ex-
pressed it as having been his opinion, "that Madison was unfit for a
president^ because he could not look on bloodshed and carnage with
composure." It will he acknowledged, that Gen. Jackson is not defi-
cient in this qualification, but can look on such scenes not only with
composure, but with compl licency ; war is the element in which he is
destined to move ; it is there he might render his country important
services, would he subject his disposition to the control of the civil

[ 17 ]

po\yer ; and there he might acquire for himself the splendid honors
which are due only to the hero. But he most clearly evinced a reso-
lution not to submit to civil authority, so long as martial law could
enable him to resist it. This is attested by his declaration to governor
Claiborne, that while martial law continued, no man should be above
him; and he never, on any occasion, evinced an inclination or inten-
tion of revoking his order for the administration of this law, in any
circumstances, until the termination of the war. If he had not a
strong predilection for a military government, and to rule, himself as
the chief executive officer in its administration, why did he actually
extend the jurisdiction of that law over the civil rights of the peo-
ple? Why did he suspend the legislative and judiciary power of gov-
ernment by the operations of that law ? His only answer has been,
that the severities of martial law, were necessary measures to aid him
in his defence against the common enemy, by checking and controll-
ing the mutinous and traitorous dispositions, which were discovera-
ble among the citizens of New-Orleans. But such dispositions could
not be discoverable without some evidence arising from some overt
act ; mere suspicions without evidence of guilt, could never justify
either a civil or military magistrate, in controlling for a moment, the
right of the personal liberty of any one, whether soldier or citizen ; and
if Gen. Jackson had evidence of such guilt, why did he not avail
himself of it, and arrest and punish some one who might be guilty of
mutiny, or treachery, or treason? He evidently discovered no aver-
sion for iiui ting punishment; on the contrary, it appears he had a
keen rehsh for that business !

His appetite for inflicting punishment must have been voracious
indeed, when it excited him to punish three hundred of our own citi-
zens in fifty-three days, not one of whom had incurred the penalty of
any law or usage, or article of war,— and that, too, after all danger
from the public enemies of our country, had ceased.

Why then, since this brave general, this faithful servant of the re-
public, who was so scrupulously diligent, in detecting enemies, and
searching out the victims of guilt, and subjects of punishment ; why
did he not in some one instance, discover satisfactory evidence of the
guilt of an individual, on whom he might have inflicted an exemplary
punishment, and thereby furnished some evidence to the public, that
the reason he had assigned, for his justiflcation in proclaiming mar-
tial law had some foundation in truth ?

If mutiny, and treachery, and treason, of which he so much com-
plamed, had in reality existed, and that too, to that alarming extent he
had represented, some overt act of its authors, in some circumstance,
must have exposed their guilt. But it is believed there never was any
evidence of that dangerous disposition afliQig the citizens of New-
Orleans, that in a single instance could justify a conviction of guilt.
It has been clearly demonstrated thaf (h- punishments inflicted by
Gen. Jackson, under the authority of martial law, which were very
numerous,* were on those who incurred no guilt, and by no law but
the dictates of his will.

*• The whole number of persons who were punished, either by death, imprison
?Wnf wri^"°™'°'°"' punishment, during only 53 days, and after Louisiana wa-
Clear ol its enemies, was raore than three hundred ! ! !

L 18 1

Tlie perpetuity of republican privileges will depend on the cliaracler
of those who administer the government. It will be in vain for us to
boast of our free constitution, and a government of laws, if we will
clothe men with authority, who are disposed to violate the constitu-
tion, and withhold from tlic people the protection of the laws at their
will. There is no remedy for the evils which might result from the
political conduct of men, wko should be disposed to substitute theii*
will for law, but in the exertion of physical tbrce, and when the gov-
ernment might be impelled to resort to this remedy without success,
there would be an end to republican hberty ; and if such remedy suc-
ceeds, we could not expect that those who were made to regard the
law only from compulsion, would be kept in subjection to it, by any
other means. In either event, therefoi**, a government allied to a
military despotism, if not absolutely such, must be the result.

Such events have hitherto sealed the fate of fallen republics ; and
the approach of such events may be apprehended, when a despotic
military chief shall gain possession of the first executive office in the
republic, whether he forces his way to it, or it is procured for liim by
the arts of cabal and intrigue, or the iniiuence of corruption.

It was a knowledge of the history of political events, and of*
the character of Gen. Jackson, as it had been exhibited in his
military administration during the last war, that must have im-
pressed the mind of Mr. Jefferson, late President of the United
States, when he expressed the opinion, "that the run which Gen.
Jackson had at the election, was an evidence that the republic
would not stand long ;" and which induced him to remark, that
^'during a long life, he had attentively watched the progress of
political events in the United States, with a particular view of
satisfying his mind, that mankind were competent to self govern-
ment, to believe which his principles inclined him ; and that du-
rin'T his whole political observation, the disposition of the Ameri-
can people to elect Gen. Jackson president, was the single cir-
cumstance which had shaken his faith, and made him fear that the
American republic was soon to follow the fate of alJ others, and
to fall under military rule."* Mr. Jefferson well knew, what all
rnav know, whose minds are enlightened with the knowledge of
political events, that a bold and unprincipled military chief, at the
head of the executive department, had always been the fatal in-
strument of subverting republican liberty.

It was not difficult for him to discover the signs of a fatal politi-
cal degeneracy, when a few individuals, the impostors of pretend-
ed patriotism, impelled by passion and prejudice ; by motives ex-
clusively selfish, by dispositions vindictive and rapacious, had, by
the arts of cabal and iibtiTgue, succeeded in procuring the suffra-
ges of a large portion of the electors for a man like Gen. Jackson,
To fdl the f rst office in the gift of the people ; an office of more

* Seethe letter recentlv published. December 1827, dated Madison county, Illi-
nois, Nov. 23d, 1827, and" Thomas W. Oilman, Charlottsvillo, May 27th, 1827, tes-
tifying positively to the fact of Jefferson's having said one might as well make h
bailor of a cock, or a soldier of a sroosc, as a president of Andrew Jackson

[ 1'- J

iinportaiice in preserving the rights of man, than any oihti uj,
earth ; for a man like Gen. Jackson, with not a single' qualifica
tiori but that of courage, of military prowess, and a disposition to
exert it, in contempt of the laws of his country, and the dictates
of humanity.

It is not strange that a man like him, of ardent and desperate
ambition, should aspire to the office of chief magistrate. Neither
is it strange that a few individuals were to be found, to nominate
him for that office, who are abandoned to their personal views of
preferment ; and who, to secure for themselves the patronage of
the executive power, must elevate to its dominion, a man most
like themselves, and whose predominant motives will devote him
to the interests of those to whose effiDrts he is to owe his eleva-
tion.

^ Those who nominated Gen. Jackson, knew very well, that to
insure success in his election, be must by some means have ac-
quired a degree of popularity ; and they knew that his militarv
exploits at New-Orleans, especially on the 8th of January, 1815,
v/hen lie drov^ the enemy from that part of the country, Iiad given
great eclat and publicity to his fame ; that heroic achievements, in
the field of battle, amidst scenes of bloodshed and carnage, often
gaye^ to popular applause a more fascinating* impulse on public
opinion, than the profoundest display of wisdom., or ardency of
patriotism in the councils of the cabinet. They knew that he
had not acquired that poUtical celebrity in the councils of the re-
public, that could entitle him to the office of chief magistrate, tp
which he presumptuously aspired ; it would, therefore, create a
debt of gratitude from him, to reward those with his patronage,
who should .be the means of aiding iiim in the acquisition of it.
But it IS beheved the people of the United States never had any
suck knowledge of his character, as would have designated him
for the office of president Those who have heretofore supported
him, have been fascinated with a recollection of his heroic
achievements; the history of Ms real character either inpubhc or
private life, has been studiously concealed from the people of the
United States. They have been impetuously incited by false no-
tions of gratitude or admiration, and by the crafty machinations of
designing politicians, to make an effort to elevate a rash and inju-
dicious man, to a place which belongs only to tried experience and
capacity, and unsullied virtue.

But it is a consolation to believe, that there is yet a redeeming
power in a great majority of the people ; there is enough of re"^-
flection and consideration, to counteract the weak and wicked de-
signs of the few, and their devoted followers. If their suffrage is
again asked to aid m the elevation of Gen. Jackson to the first
office of their country, they will be impelled to say in the lan-
guage of Mr. Clay: the candidate, however illustrious he may be,
must present some other title than the blood stained laurels, gath-
ered in the field of battle, however glorious.

These remarks are not intended to attach disrespect to the pro»

I '^<-^ 1

tession of arms, or to the character of a soldier ; military attain-
ments, when accompanied with other requisite qualifications, may
be a reason for civil promotion; and when eminently displayed in de-
fence of our country, ought to be justly and liberally rewarded.
And the people of the United States have evinced a disposition to
bestow such rewards.* But there is, however, always danger
that in the ardor and enthusiasm of their liberality, they may in-
judiciously confer unappropriate honors. It would be a danger-
ous precedent to reward heroism with the chief executive power,
however gloriously it may have been displayed. Neither can we
be too jealous 'of any man, who, by the eclat of military exploits
in the field, discovers an ardent ambition of elevating himself to
the summit of civil power.

Should the name of Andrew Jackson be continued on the list
of candidates for the Presidency, a most interesting crisis in the
history of our republic will be presented. The hereditary dynas-
ties of princes are looking with extreme solicitude to the result of
the eifort to perpetuate a government of laws, and of rational lib-
erty in America. Should the conduct of the people of the Uni-
ted States, in the choice of their chief magistrate, be influenced
by wisdom, and by the dictates of a pure and enlightened patriot-
ism, it will evince ift them a capacity for self government, which
has never yet been exhibited on earth ; and may be the means of
awakening from the slumber of ages, the spirit of freedom on the
eastern continent, and of prostrating in the dust, the thrones of
tyrants throughout the world.

Americans have been habitually inclined to adopt the sentiment
of the poet, in thinking all other republics mortal but their own ;
and to believe that a constitution written on paper, will preserve
their liberties entire, amidst the conflicts of factions, of passion,
of vice and error ; while some of them are making an effort to
commit the guardianship of this constitution to a man, who has
had no scruples in violating its most essential provisions. This
political paradox in their conduct, is a demonstration, that the
spirit and manners of the people has degenerated ; or that the do-
minion of political delusion has commenced its progress over rea-
son, truth, and common sense.

If the political character or conduct of Mr. Adams, or the
measures of his administration, are impolitic, or partial and une-
qual in their operation, let them be publicly investigated and ex-
posed. His supporters are ready to meet the strictest scrutiny of

* Aftei the close of the war, in 1815, On, .Tackson was continued in command
\mtil the army was disbanded in 1821 while lie enjoyed an undisturbed retire-
ment, with the exception of a few months active military service, for six years;
during which time he received neaily fifty thousand dollars, as appears by ac-
counts communicated to Congress. This is the man who, we are told, retired
like Cincitinatus and Washington, and converted his sword into a plou^-hshare. —
After the army was disbanded, he received three months pay, while ne was re-
<;eiving a salary of a new and honorable appointment as governor of Florida.
Some of the most important acts of his administration under this last appointment
>vere repealed by Congress, in 1822, as manifestly unconstitutional.

L ~i J

his opposers ; and he himself, so far from shrinking from an inves-
tigation of his character, either in public or private life, earnestly
solicits it. But the leaders of the opposition have unfortunately
attached entire discredit to their own attestations on this subject,
by avowing themselves to be actuated first of all by motives of
hostility, and a fixed resolution to oppose his administration,
whether it should be wise or impolitic. No other credit is there-
fore due to any thing they may allege against Mr. Adams, or his
administration, than could be to a witne?s, who when called upon
to testify in a court of justice, should declare his resolution to
testify against one of the parties, whether he knew any thing re-
lating to the cause or not.

Whenever a determination is discoverable among a few lead-
ing men in congress, to oppose a chief magistrate and his admin-
istration, at its very commencement, it evinces a political deprav-
ity, and that destitution of republican virtue, which should en-
stamp on their character, and that of their devoted adherents,
disgrace and dishonor ; and excite the jealousy of the people, not
against the administration, but against them.

In the political, as well as in the natural and moral world, the
principle, that like causes will produce like effects, is equally im-
portant and true. A single event which may appear inconsidera-
ble in itself, may, in the progress of things, occasion a succession
of important events, which might change the condition of a whole
nation. One rash and injudicious act ; one ill concerted project
of a chief magistrate ; such as might be expected from a man ac-
tuated by violent passions, an impetuous temper, and lawless dis-
position, might inflict evils on our republic, which an age of wis-
dom could not remove.

As well might it be expected that the eruptions of Vesuvius
would send down from its summit the fertilizing aliment of plants,
and deck the fields with flowers, as that the councils of a cabinet,
produced by such a man as Andrew Jackson, should preserve
the tranquillity, and promote the honor and welfare of our coun-
try.

The laws which govern human actions and passions, have hith-
erto decided the progress and fate of republics ; and the same ci-
vil commotions and disorders which rent asunder the bonds of
union, and overturned the civil constitution of the Romans, a
thousand years ago, would have the same effect on our own, at
the present time.

The character of the chief magistrate has marked the progress
,o? political degeneracy, and decided the fate of republics, both in
ancient and modern times. Sylla, a Roman general, by his mili-
tary achievements alone, acquired the popularity and the power,
by means of which, he put an end to the Roman commonwealth ;
and after him a long succession of military chieftains, triumphed,
by the sword, over its expiring liberties. Whether they were aid-
ed by the deluded populace, in their elevation to the chief com-
mand, or forced their way to it, by their courage and physical

>irciigiii ; the re.-ult was the same ; and they n ere never wanting
, in pretences for breaking down every distinction between a gov-
ernment of laws, and that of men ; or between a free republic,
and a military despotism.

If we would avoid the fate of other free states, the people must
awake to their duty ; they must arise in the majesty of their virtue
and guard every avenue to the citadel of our liberties, against the
first approaches of lawless ambition

There is nothing in the form of our civil constitution, or in the
peculiar disposition of the American people, which can change
the operation of the old and trite principle in philosophy, that
like causes will produce like effects in the political state of man,
as well as in the natural world. Should a general degeneracy in
the manners and spirit of the people prevail, they will disregard
their rights — ^^passion will triumph over reason, and civil liberty
will perish.

There are already too many among us who seek, and who acquire
the confidetice of the people withdfet deserving it ; and who, while-
they would be dictators of the public will, would rather see the last
vestige of republican liberty in ruins, than yield their pretonded claims
to preferment and to power.

Examples taken from past time have more power over the minds
of men than any of the age in which they live. What we see grows
familiar. It is because the people .have been seen to indulge an ha-
bitual inclination to place a blind confidence in their favorites, who
are often the impostors of pretended patriotism; because the follies
and vices which have been engendered in the conflicts of party dis-
sension, have grown familiar ; that we have among us some indivi-
duals, who have ventured to hazard an attempt, to impose on the peo-
ple of the United States a chief magistrate, who has exhibited to the
world a character opposed to every moral and political principle, which
should constitute the basis of rational liberty. Had such a man as
Andrew Jackson been nominated for the Presidency twenty years ago,
with no other claims on the people's confidence than he now presents,
it v.'ould have excited an emotio • of general indignation, and con-
signed his advocates to deserved reproach and contempt.

It is believed there may yet be virtue enough in the people to pre-
vent the fatal effects of a single corrupt and injudicious choice of a
chief magistrate. But should the evils inflicted by such an event,
not prove fatal or perpetual, it will hereafter encourage those, who, in
pursuit of power and j^ersonal preferment, will be willing to hazard
the experiment of any innovation or change.

The evils which prove fatal to republics, may be expected to be ,
gradual in their operation, so as not to excite alarm at any particular
period, until the spirit and manners of the people become so degene-
rated, and their condition so depressed, that "their rights will expire
or must revive in a convulsion." That will be the most important
period in our history, when it shall be recorded of us, that our reason
and wisdom have triumphed over passion and prejudice ; not that ^x*-
riod when by our courage we purchased liberty ; but when by our
virtue we cnstamped on its existence immortal duratioji.

[2o j

There are important reasons arising iVom tlie spirit of the constitu-
tion and the poHcy of our republic, which imperiously urge us to the
re-election of a chief magistrate who has merited public 'confidence.
The provision in the Constitution for the re-eligibility of a President
was intended to secure the privilege of continuing the advantages of
an administration which had advanced the interest and honor of the
country : It also furnishes strong motives to the President in oflice,
to act with firmness and integrity, from a consciousness that by de-
serving the confidence of the people, he will be more likely to secure
the reward of a re-election. It will be admitted that the desire of re-
ward is one of the strongest incentives of human conduct ; and also
that the best security, for the fidelity of mankind is to make interest
coincide with duty. It must be acknowledged to be the duty of- the
people of the United States, to establish for themselves a character for
stability and fidelity, that will secure to the President in office his re-
election, as the reward which will be due for the integrity, the firm-
ness, and the wisdom of the measures which may distinguish his ad-
ministration; and there can be no stronger incentive to the good
conduct of the chief magistrate, than a pledge of this reward ; neither
can there be any other provision for this pledge, but in the fidehty,
the patriotism, and the stability of the people.

If the chief magistrate has discharged the duties of his office so as
to claim the general approbation, and is excluded from a re-e'ection at
the end of four years, the country is thereby deprived of the advan-
tages of his experience. The truth of the adage that experience is
the parent of wisdom is admitted by the wise, as well as the simple ;
and is perhaps a more essential and desirable quality in that officer,'
than any other. The measures, and the geneml policy of a new ad-
ministration, very soon gain that publicity which enable the people to
form correct viev/s of its character. And if it is such as to evince
the wisdom and the integrity of the chief magistrate, why should the
advantages to be derived from it, be put at hazard,. by changing that
officer, and others which would be the result of such a change ; and
measures too which have met the general approbation ? For it can-
not be expected that when the authors of an administration are chano--
ed measures will remain uniform; especially when extraordiuanr
effiarts have been made to effect the change ; it may be expected the
new administrators would be ambitious of some other disfinction,
than that of continuing the operations of a policy, marked out by their
predecessors. Neither could the right of electing a new President at
the end of four years, be intended to equalize the honors and emolu-
ments of the office among those of equal merit. The people could
expect to derive no advantage from excluding the chief magistrate
from a re-election, for the purpose of electing one whose qu'alifica-
tions could notj^e thought superior to those of his predecessor. The
right of changing the chief magistrate, and with him, the other im-
portant officers in the government, was also intended to secure the
people, against the evils of a weak or corrupt administration. When
such evils do not exist, but on the contrary, the administration is dis-
tmguished for talents, for integrity and wisdom, neither expediency or

[ 24 j

sound policy can be urged in favor of a change. By an unnecessar)',
wanton and corrupt exercise of the right of changing the chief magis-
trate, provided by the Constitution, the object of the provision might
be defeated.

If at the expiration of the first term of the Presidential office, we
exclude by our suffi'ages the chief magistrate, who has in the per-
formance of his official duties, apparently pursued the best interest of
tlie country, and in every part of his administration displayed the cha-
racter of an enhghtened, wise, and independent magistrate, we do
thereby in effect annul an important provision in the Constitution.
When once the people shall exclude by their suffi-ages a wise and
meritorious chief magistrate, from a re-election, it will hereafter be
urged as a precedent, the influence of which may by habit, come to
operate with the force of law on succeeding elections.

If the principles of a wise policy not only admit, but require that
such an officer should be re-elected, and the people are led by the
insidious arts of unprincipled and aspiring partisans, into a habit of
disregarding such principles, the great object of the provision of re-
eligibility, will be defeated, and become only a dead letter. The
provision itself had by far better be annulled, by an amendment of
the Constitution, than that the people by the force of habit, should
acquire a disposition to disregard the important objects it was intended
to secure.

If we exclude from a re-election, a man so eminently qualified for
the office of chief magistrate, as Mr. Adams, the present incumbent
is acknowledged to be, both as to his political science, and the wis-
dom, integrity, and dignity of his character; what pledge for the
fidelity and constancy of the people can any exertion of merit, by
those who may succeea him in that office, ever hereafter expect to se-
cure ? It will form a precedent in the annals of our history, which,
although it will not inevitably exclude the reward of a re-election,
from those who may hereafter most deserve it ; yet it will render the
acquisition of it so precarious, as to furnish of itself, no incentive
whatever to good conduct. We could not expect a man er:stamped
with human frailty as all men are, to undertake arduous and exten-
sive measures for the public good, which would require much more
time to perfect them, than a single prasidential term would admit,
when he had reason to believe from the inconstancy of the people,
that before he could complete them, he should have to commit them as
well as his reputation to others, who might be both unequal and un-
friendly to the task.

We have had great cause for exultation, that a disposition has here-
tofore so extensively prevailed, to establish a character tor constancy
and fidelity, which has been evinced by the re-election of our chief
magistrates except in one instance. There has been, it is true, an
opposition to re-elections, hut it has been founded on different princi-
ples, and excited among the people by different motives, from those
which actuate the opposition to General Jackson. No candidate, ex-
cept him, has ever yet been proposed for the Presidency, whose cha-
r?tcter was such as to exclude all reasonable expectations, that bis adr

[ 25 ]

ministration might promote the interest and the honor of the republic.
The opposition to other candidates has arisen either from a diversity
of opinion relative to their political views and principles, or from local
considerations, either of which, it is believed, do not furnish the prin-
ciple ground of opposition to General Jackson. His opposers are
well agreed, that he does not possess a single qualification, suitable
for the office of chief magistrate. Even his -military talents and
prowess, under the direction of a temper and disposition like his, ren-
der it improper and impolitic, to intrust him with the chief command
of a military district.

But however less exceptionable/ the character of a new proposed
candidate might be ; should the different candidates have equal claims
on the confidence of the people ; the evils inevitably resulting frcm a
contested Presidential election, are so well known, and so deplorable
in theii* consequences, that no effort, which may be consistent with
the maxims of a wise policy, should be wanting to avoid them.

The experiment which is making in the United States, of electing
a chief magistrate, is not the first that has been made in the world ;
and what has heretofore been its operation and end is well known.
Directed by a few corrupt, ambitious and desperate individuals, it has
produced the greatest misfortunes, and finally the rum of other re-
publics.

The transcendant honors and privileges necessarily appertinent to
the office, present a prize, which may be expected to excite the emula-
tion, and inspire the most ardent ambition of different candidates,
v/hile the extensive patronage attending success, brings into hostile
array, a formidable host of contending partisans. The press, intend-
ed as a resplendent beacon, to point men to the light of truth, is pros-
tituted to the diminutive and degrading views of self-preferment.
Every sordid passion and paltry prejudice is enlisted in the contest.
Tlie diverse attachments, enmities, hopes and fears of leading men
in community are excited ; who do not scruple to sacrifice the national
tranquillity, to the purposes of personal advantage or gratification.
The malignant passions are set on fire ; and the people are subjected
to the impulses of rage, resentment, jealousy, avarice, and every irre-
gular and violent propensity. The spirit which generates these evils,
" distracts the public councils and enfeebles the public administration ;
agitates the community with false alarms^; kindles the animosity of
one part against another, end often occasions riot, violence, and insur-
*^i-ection.''

" The domination of one party over another, incited by a spirit of
revenge, has in different periods of the repubhcs, often inflicted the
most horrid enormities, and has itself proved a frightful despotism."

These are some of the evils which result from a contested Presi-
dential election ; and so cormpting is their influence on the public
morals; so degrading to the dignity of national character; and so
deleterious to the permanency of republican liberty, that theyJhave in
other ages of the republics, heretofore, disposed the minds of men
eventually to seek repose in the absolute power of an individual.

The people have the power of arresting the fatal progress of these

D

I 26 ]

evils ; by their habitual constancy and lidehty to the chiet magistrate,
who is wise and faithful in the discharge of his official duties, they can
discourage all overtures, and set at defiance every effort to introduce
a new candidate to that office, when the essential interests of the coun-
try do not require them. The great mass of the people have no inte-
rest individually m the change of a President or the administration.
The provision in the Constitution for a re-election, was not intended
to provide the emoluments of office, for a few aspiring individuals, at
the end of every four years ; but to secure the people from the evils of
a contested election, when they might be so fortunate as to have a
chief magistrate who should merit a continuance of their confidence.

We may expect there will be a perpetual succession of aspiring and
rapacious expectants of Presidential patronage, who will unceasingly
assail the constancy and fidelity of the people.

The eftbrt by which provision was made for a constitutional mode
of electing a chief magistrate, was a more perfect exhibition of national
wisdom and deliberation than the world had ever seen. It remains
for the people to evince by their conduct, that they will stedfastly pur-
sue the great objects it was intended to secure.

But it cannot be concealed from the world, that a determined and
desperate effort is making to defeat these objects.

Never did the condition of our government more imperiously urge>^
the people to a re-election of any chief magistrate since the days of
Washington, than that of JNIr. Adams. It will be recollected, that the
two great poUtical parties, heretofore known by the distinguishing
names vyf federahsts and republicans, were at the election of Mr. Jef-
ferson so equally divided, that he obtained a majority of only a single
vote ; yet notwithstanding the strong prejudices excited by party zeal
at that time, and when Mr, John Q. Adams was reputed to have been
attached to the party opposed to the election of Mr. Jefferson, he re-
ceived from him, as has been before observed, the appointment of mi-
nister plenipotentiary to Russia. The violence of party zeal which
has heretofore consigned to opprobrious censure every other individual
of political distinction, could never diminish in him the confidence of
any administration, nor induce any one of our chief magistrates to
dispense with his services ; with such high consideration did they
view his capacity and his qualifications for public employment, and
such the purity and integrity of his character. He seems to have
been destined in the course of human events, to possess the confidence
of those two political parties, which heretofore hac' rent asunder the
bonds of our union ; and to check the fatal progress of those evils,
engendered by party dissensions, under the insignificant distinctions of
mere names. So hopeless has been the prosj3ect of a successful op-
position to his political character, that it never has been attempted un-
til it was commenced by a few individuals of desperate ambition, who
have hoped by the delusive influence of heroic fame, by the insanity
of enthusiasm, and false notions of gratitude to a military chieftain, to
drive him from the councils of the cabinet, and thereby acquire for
themselves places of power and consequence, from wliich reason,
truth and justice would exclude them. It has been reserved for the

advocates of Andrew Jackson to make the discovery that John Q,
Adams was not duly quahfied for political concerns, but was a wick-
ed and designing man ; and that Andrew Jackson was the ihan above
all others the most suitable to reform and save the administration of
our government from political degeneracy. Notwithstanding such
men as Washington, Jefferson, Madison and Munroe, together with
those illustrious char icters who have directed the destinies of our re-
public for thirty six years, while it has been elevated to an unexampled
height of prosperity ; although this august assemblage of men, who
would have honored and blessed the councils of any country in any
age of the world, have been of the opinion that he was pre-eminently
qualified, for the most important offices in the administration ; yet it
has been discovered of late by the few individuals who projected the
nomination of Andrew Jackson, that this same iMr. Adams is, and
has been an unwise man, and a dangerous statesman.

But why have not these honorable gentlemen, distinguished for pa-
triotism as they declare themselves to be, until now divulged the result
of their discoveries, to the people, and thereby endeavoured to correct
the devious tendency of public opinion ? Was it not because the pe-
riod had not arrived when they were prepared to put in their claims
to presidential patronage ; because they were not before ready and
anxious to aid with their politieal services, the councils of the cabinet ;
because they had found no man before Andrew Jackson who had en-
couraged them confidently to expect, that he would open the door to
every avenue whicn might lead to the consummation of their aspiring-
views ; that no one but him had given such ample assurances that
every officer in the administration, should be compelled to yield his
place to them and their favorites.

That this would be the first truits of his administration, should he
accede to the Presidency, his advocates Ijave exultingly proclaimed.

Neither have we any reason to doubt that such would be the result.
We may well suppose that the man who would not admit the laws of
the land, nor the obligations of moral rectitude and justice, as his rule
of action, when opposed to the dictates of his will, would not forbear
to take a signal vengeance on those who had been instrumental in pro-
tracting the event, which is to consummate the first object of his wishes.
It would be in perfect accordance with every public act of his life, to
divest of power any and every individual who had presumed to ques-
tion his merit, or oppose his designs.

But preposterous as is the project of General Jackson's nomina-
tion ; and however diminutive the number, and improper the political
views of its authors, they would now^ sanction its expediency, by the
number of their proselytes. Can efforts, say they, which have beeu
encouraged, by so large a portion of the people, be considered im-
provident or inexi)edipnt ? The man who should consider this an in-
explicable paradox, would betray his entire ignorance of the political
character of man, as it has been exhibited through the whole history
of republics. The most abandoned tyrants that have heretofore con-
signed republican liberty to the dominion of despotism, have owed
theit elevation to the people.

L2S]

It has been observed that a large portion of the people, and those
too reputed as honest as any, were too tbnd of their own ease and
peace, to 'trouble themselves much with public affairs, and were in the
habit of yielding their political conduct to the dictation of certain
favorites. But the moti^'es by which favorite leaders are actuated are
often improper, and not known to the people. This inattention to the
character and motives of popular leaders has often been attended
with the most fatal and disastrous consequences, t The people
tlu'oughout the world have always possessed both the physical and
moral power of establishing for themselves free constitutions, and sys-
tems of rational liberty ; the use they have made of this privilege is
but too well known ; they have permitted their popular leaders to lead
them on from one error to another, till at last they have been forced
to consign their liberties to the dominion of a tyrant. It will be re-
collected, that Aaron Burr was once a powerful and popular leader,
and that an effort was made to elect him chief magistrate ; and be-
cause Alexander Hamilton, who was at that time unpopular, warned
the people that he was a dangerous man, it cost him his life ; and that
Aaron Burr not long afterwards, had a bill found against him on a
charge of high treason against the United States.

We, my fellow citizens, must learn the qualifications of a candidate
for the Presidency, from a more pure source, than from those who set
themselves up for popular leaders, who ai*e actuated by motives of
interest, which would discredit theii' testimony in a Court oC Justice,
in a question which involved the right to a' single dollar.

There are too many of our useful and respectable citizens, who en-
gage in a contested election, from motives of envy, or jealousy, or
from some personal prejudice ; not because they believe the welfare
of the country requires that they should oppose the proposed candi-
date ; but because they would oppose certain individuals, who are his
friends and advocates ; there are too many of our citizens, who ir\-
dulge the little ambition of being instrumental in appointing a ruler
for those over whom they would exercise some superiority; such is
the love ff power, if they cannot be rulers themselves:, they would
rule by proxy, and would rather belong to the predominant party in a
contested election, than to be the known advocates of a candidate
against whom there is no opposition. And it is very certain too, how-
ever much to be regretted, that too many of our citizens are destitute
of that information, which might enable them to detect the arts of in-
trigue and deception with which they are continually assailed by de-
signing men ; and what is more deplorable, are profligate in their
manners, and abandoned to their vices. From this view of the cha-
racter rmd improper motives which govern the conduct of many of^
our citizens it is easy t) see how popular leaders of pro-
fligate manners and desjierate ambition, may turn the laws which
govern human actions and passions to the purposes of their own ele-
vation. Whosoever should conceal from the contemplation of the
people these considerations, or forbear to admonish his fellow-citizens
of their danger from a delicacy or dread of popularity, would be
guilty of a weakness, if not a vice. When votes are given under the

uillueuce ot' passion, or may be obtained Jjy fraud, falseiiood, bribery,
intrigue, and every species of corruption^ their number furnishes no
evidence whatever of the merit of a candidate ; and against the means
of prostituting the right of suftrage, no civil constitution can effectual-
ly provide.

It is said that a man cannot obtain the votes of the freemen for an
important otfice, unless he becomes popular. This is indeed true.
But there are two ways to obtain popularity ; one by meriting the
confidence of the public, by a wise and faithful discharge of the va-
rious and important duties of public or private life ; by his attachment
to the laws and constitution of his country, and a sacred regard to
the precepts of a pure morality ; when by the general course of his
conduct his merit becomes conspicuous, his popularity commences,
and follows him. But there is another way of becoming popular,
which owes its origin to the councils of a caucus, or secret meetmg,
held for the purposes of political intrigue — the general object of which
is to render some individual popular, who may not have attracted the
attention, or commanded the confidence of the public. Men who de-
rive their popularity from this source, do not 'rely so much on their
merit, for their elevation, as on the efforts of those who have a per-
sonal interest in rendering them popular. The number of votes
which such men may obtain, will depend on the zeal and efforts of
their advocates ; who by unceasing asseverations in their behalf, often
induce the people to believe that those who can create so much ex-
citement and anxiety, must deserve the public confidence. A volume
might be filled with the names of those v.rho having acquired their po-
pularity by such means, have proved the fatal instruments of subvert-
ing repubUcan hberty.

The Siren song of popularity has led the train of fallen republics
from Nero to Napoleon.

'^ Look to the lessons of history. During the late revolution in
France, after the people had got rid of their monarchy, they possessed
the power of elevating to the fchief magistracy whoever they should
choose. But was it an evidence of the merit of Robespierre and the
other tyrants who successively held the supreme power, that they were
raised to it by a majority of the people, while their country was con-
verted into one great aceldema, on v/hich the blood of her slaughtered
citizens incessantly flowed. The people of that devoted republic
were made to believe that the.-e tyrants were friends to republican li-
berty ; but had to atone for their credulity and folly, with the sacrifice
of fifty of their heads on each day, for about two years.

Did the success of Aaron Burr in obtaining votes for the Presi-
dency, furnish evidpuce of his merit and qualifications ? But the
talents of Aaron Burr were transcendantly superior to Andrev>^ Jack-
son's ; >vhile he was much less profligate in his manners, and despofic
in his disposition.

Demagogues have always been ready to sanction their vices and
impositions, by the suffrages of the people, when they have no other
resource for their popularity.

The result of the late Presidential election has furnished the ad\'o-

oates of Andrew Jackson with arguments in his defence, which they
could have derived from no other source ; and on which they appear
exultmgly to confide. It is admitted that he had a plurahty of electo-
ral votes over Mr. Adams ; but as there was not a majority of votes
for him, the votes given by the advocates of Mr, Clay could have had
no operation in putting at rest the Presidential question, unless they
had been given to either Jackson or Adams. TIiq members of Co i-
gress on whom the election devolved, in making their selection, were
not bound by the electorcd votes which had been given for Jackson.
The provision in the Constitution for the election of a President by
the members of Congress, when there shall be no choice by the elec-
tors, constitutes another and an independent board of electors ; and
it becomes the duty of this board to act independently of all other in-
fluence, than that of the obligation impo"sed on them by the Constitu-
tion. Yet it appears that an attempt was made by the Legislature of
Ker.tucky, to influence their members in Congress, to disregard this
obligatioR, by passing a vote declaring that next to Mr. Clay, General
Jackson was the choice of the people of Kentucky, and requesting w
their representatives t6 vote for him ; although the members of that
Legislature must have well known, that neither the Constitution, nor
any principle of wise policy, could sanction such a measure. As
well might they have passed a vote, declaring what candidate was the
choice of the people, and requestmg the electors to give him their
votes.

The advocates of Gen. Jackson would contend, that the votes of
the electors in those stat* s, when there was a plurality of votes over
IMr. Adams, have furnished competent evidence that a majority of the
freemen in those states were opposed to his election ; ' and that the
members of congress from the same states^ were therefore bound, in
deference to the wishes of their constituents, and by the spirit, though
net by the letter of the constitution, to have withholden their votes tVora
Mr. Adams, and to have given them to Andrew Jackson. This po-
sition cannot be admitted. The members of ''ongress, who voted for
Mr. Adams, furnished evidence of the same nature and degree of com-
petency and constitutionality, that a majority of the freemen of those
states were in favor of the election of Mr. Adams. In either instance,
the people had no other agency in choosing a president, but in giving
their votes for electors, and for members of congress. They had,
therefore, to confide m the wisdom and discretion of those to whom
they had delegated that power. It is not only difficult, but it may even
be impossible, to ascertain whether the electors or members of con-
gress, v\ill always make a choice, which is conformable to the wishes
of a majority of the freemen.

It will be recollected that the freemen, individually, have heretofore
had no agency even in choosing the electors of the President; the le-
gislature of the several states, having generally exercised the right of
choosing them, this renders it more uncertain whether the views of
the electors respecting the candidate for the presidency, will -Jways
coincide with that ol their constituents ; for if the candidates for the
state legislatures do not succeed in deceiving their constituents, res-

[ ^1 •]

pecting thoir political views, they may betray their conlidence in the
choice of electors. It is obvious, then, that the members of con-
gress, who are chosen by the immediate act of the people, are more
likely to know and to act according to the will of the freemen, than
electors, of whose pohtical views they might have no knowledge, ex^
cept through the intervention of their representatives. Those mem-
bers of congress, who next to Mr. Clay, preferred Adams to Jackson,
might also easily have believed, from the extraordinary interest, and
desperate efforts, to effect his election, that his advocates had resor-
ted to improper and unwarrantable measures to obtain for liim a plu-
rality of votes over Mr. Adams.

It is demonstrable by referring to facts relating to the election of
Mr. Adams, that he is not only constitutionally, president, but that he
had a greater popular vote than any of his competitors. The public
mind has been misled on this subject. By referring to the following
table, the result of the late presidential election will be found not only
conformable to the letter of the constitution, but to the spirit of our
democracy.

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In soiit* of the states it will be observed that the electors were
chosen by the legislatures. The popular votes, therefore, in
those states is computed from an ascertained ratio of the actual
votes, with the number of voters, in the other states ; — they arc
distributed according to the proportion of electoral votes for each
of the candidates. Thus in Vermont, where Adams had all the
votes in the electoral coUesfe, we have eiven him the whole niim

fc >

f 33 5

ber of popular votes, in New-York, they are divided according ta
the electoral votes each received ; ^nd in South-Carolina, where
Jackson received all the electoral votes, he is allowed all the pop-
ular votes. The result thus stated, shews that although Mr. Ad-
ams received 166112 votes of the people, he had but 84 votes in
the electoral colleges ; while Gen. Jackson, with only 153733
popular votes, received the votes of 99 electors. If the elector-
al votes had been in accordance with the votes of the people, Mr.
Adams would have had more than Jackson. Our opponents com-
plain that Maryland and Illinois, in congress, voted for Mr. Ad-
ams. Let us examine, from the data furnished, whether this was
not exactly as the people wished. In Maryland, as the table shews,
Mr. Adams had 14632, and Gen. Jaclr.son 14623 popular votes.
Now, upon pure democratic principles. Mr. Adams ought to h»ve
got all the electoral votes of that state,* and if the electors had
been chosen as in Pennsylvania, by a general ticket, he would
have had them But in the division of districts, it happened that
Gen. Jackson, with a less number of popular votes, obtained 7
electoral votes. If Mr. Adams had obtained them, the result
would have been 92 each. In Illinois, also, Mr. Adams had 1541,
and Gen. Jackson only 1272 votes of the people. — Upon the same
principle, Adams therefore ought to have had the electoral votes
of that state ; yet Jackson got two, and he only one. If we take
those two from the general, and add them to Mr. Adams, it would
then stand thus — Adams 94 — Jackson 90.

There is another fact which appears from this table, that ought
not to be overlooked. In the southern states, where Gen. Jack-
son had his majorities, the slave population is represented in the
proportion oi Jive to three whites. Electors were chosen accord-
ingly. Five slaves, therefore, had as much political power as three
free whites, in the eastern or middle states. It is evident, there-
fore, that Mr. Adams had in truth a very large plurality of the free^
voters of the United State.?. The subjoined table will illustrate
this argument,—

E

(34 J

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From the above table it will appear that from the slave holding
states, Jackson received 44 and Adams but 4 electoral votes The
senatorial representation is not taken into account, as it would not
effect the calculation either way. It will, also, appear that of
pure slave votes, Jackson received nearly 1 1 and Adams 1 only.
Now take the result as we have shewn it would have been if Mary-
land and Illinois had gone entire for Mr. Adams, according to the
popular vote, viz. : 94 for Adams and 90 for Jackson. Extinguish
the c>lave vote altogether, which would subtract, in whole numbers,
ten from Jackson and one from Adams. It would then stand —
Adams 93 and Jackson 80 only. — Thus in every point of view, it
is clear, if the voice of the greater number is to be an indication,
that Adams was the choice of the free people of the United States.
mirtttie rmtvri argument of hig opponents fa^ls to the ground.

135 ]

Notwithstanding the election of Mr. Adams has been made, not on-*
ly according to the letter, but the spirit of the constitution, yet it seems
to have furnished to his opponents a source of the most bitter invec-
tives ; that because when Gen. Jackson had obtained a plurality of
electoral votes over him, he should consent to be elected ; and that
because after he was elected, he appointed Mr. Clay, (who may be
ranked among our most able and illustrious statesmen,) secretary of
state; they would impose on the understanding of our citizens,
by urging, that fhese circumstancr.s have furnished evidence of his
having been guilty of making a corrupt political bargain with Mr.
Clay, to obtain his election ; and of disregarding the principles of the
constitution ! To such immeasurable degrees of folly and insanity
ai'e the victims of an unjust and disappointed ambition impelled.

They would have the people believe too, that Andrew Jackson's
plurality of electoral votes over Mr. Adams, furnishes competent ev-
idence of his popularity ; and that popularity thus acquired, is an at-
testation of that merit which should command their confidence ; al-
though it has been proved from the whole history of the civil state,
that votes may be procured, by the arts of intrigue, by bribery, by
falsehood, and by every species of imposition ; and although great
and petty tyrants, and pimping demagogues, have, under the same
specious pretence of merit, been elevated to importance and to pow-
er. In the mist of this political delusion, they would conceal the de-
formity of a charat^ter which would blacken the pages of our history,
and enstamp on its fortunes, disgrace, disorder, and ruin.

If we would preserve the purity of elections to important offices,
we must be governed by truth and reason, more than by sounds. If
a candidate, whoever he may be, has obtained more votes than he mer-
ited, instead of furnishing evidence of his popularity, it only proves
that the people have been deceived. The question for a wise people
to investigate, in relation to the election of a president, is not whether
this or that candidate may obtain the most votes ; but who is qualified
to discharge the duties of the office so as best to promote the public
good. If local prejudices, personal interests, and geographical dis-
crimination, have a predominant influence in the election of that officer,
we cannot with confidence calculate on the tranquil enjoyment, or the
perpetuity of our union.

At no period of our national existence, has any political event exci-
ted so extraordinary an interest in the public mind, as that of the
nomination of Andrew Jackson to the Presidency.

The condition of the United States presents to the world the mag-
nificent spectacle, of a people who have, as it were, but just snatched
their liberties from the ruins of empire, amidst the thunder of contend-
ing nations, and are making the last effort to secure for it the triumphs
of an immortal existence. History, the monumental record of nation-
al decline and ruin, exliibits to our view the causes of republican de-
generacy, in characters legible as the sunbeams, and which cannot be
mistaken ; and it points us to their commencement, at that period
when their chief executive power has been committed to men of des-
potic wills, lawless ambition, profligate manners, and desperate cour-
ase.

I :3ti j

ro extricate ourselves from the evils of a hereditary monarchv-
which might impose on us in the line of descent, a weak or un-
principled despot, the blood and treasures of our illustrious an-
cestors have been expended ; but are those evils more tolerable, or
less to be depricated, when by our free suffrages we inflict them
on ourselves ? Does the right of suffrage give impunity to the
errors or vices of freemen ? If the rights of the people are to be
invaded with impunity ; if our liberties are to perish in the ad-
ministration of a military despot ; is it a privilege of which free-
men should boast, and in which they ought to exult, that they
have the right of choosing the men who are to be the instruments
of their ruin ? It is a truth which cannot be concealed from an
impartial world, that the history of the British monarchy, for the
last three hundred years, has not recorded a character among
those who have inherited the sovereign power, so despotic in his
principles, or abandoned to his vices, as that man, whom the peo-
ple are invited to elevate to the chief magistracy.

Had we the misfortune to have lived under an hereditary monar-
chy, and the Great Disposer of human events, should, in his wrath,
have imposed on us such a sovereign as Andrew Jackson, in the
line of descent, it would have been considered a national calami-
ty. No faction would then be created, to conceal his vices and
liis errors, by the proclamation of his popularity ; and as he would
have depended on no one for his elevation, none could calculate
on his patronage. But the case is otherwise ; we live in a free
republic, and the people are not doomed, by their constitution, to
consign their liberties to the administration of an unprincipled ty-
rant. And unless they suffer themselves to be deceived, through
inattention to the characters of the different candidates, it is be^
lieved they will not do it.

The question respecting a presidential election, should not be
affected by geographical discriminations or sectional interests.
Whatever may be the views of aspiring partizans, attached to
different candidates, it is believed the great mass of our popula-
tion would discard the little policy of any chief magistrate, which
should tend to encourage the pursuits of one part of the common-
wealth at the expense of the other. There may be individuals
influenced in their political conduct by local attachments, and
prejudices, and interests ; yet it is hoped the major part of our
citizens will never disregard the vast importance of an inviolable
and perpetual union of the states, which never can be maintained
by any other than a policy both equal and just in its operation.

It is of no consequence to the people whether the President is
a native citizen of the northern or southern section of the United
States, or from what stock of ancestors he has descended ; Dcitlier
is it of importance to know whether he has heretofore approved
or opposed certain measures of the administration, contrary to
the views of other eminent statesmen ; the wisdom of political
measures cannot always be attested, but by a long course of ex-
periejice ; the great question which should decide the choice of

liiat olUcer, relates entirely to his charaGteT. If lie has proved to
the people by his general deportment that he is governed by the
principles of a pure morality ; and that by his pubhc conduct he
has evinced a sacred regard to the laws and constitution of his
country ; and a capacity equal, if not superior to any other indi-
vidual ; every motive which should influence the choice of a wise
people, urge them to re-elect the man who possesses such qualifi-
cations.

It is not necessary to adduce evidence that such is the charac-
ler of John Quincy Adams. The proofs are already before the
world, and cannot be discredited. For nearly forty years he has
stood the landmark of his country's wisdom, " a mental Pyramid,"
whose base the storms of faction and passion could not move.
And it will not be forgotten, that unwearied and desperate as have
been the efforts of his opponents, they have not been able to con-
firm against him a single charge either of incapacity or derilection
of duty ; or to trace to the source of his administration any one
political evil or misfortune. And yet we are insultingly told that
the public good requires that the office which he holds should be fill-
ed by Andrew Jackson ; a man who has been proved before the pub-
lic to have committed more errors, and vices, and crimes, than
any other man in the United States, whose character has gained
equal publicity. A man who in private life, has exhibited the
deformity and the danger of the human disposition when uninflu-
enced by either moral or legal restraints. Who from his early
youth has been habitually engaged in petty and degrading quarrels,
which under the delusive guise of chivalric honor, he has avenged
by violence on the lives of his fellow citizens ; a man of so dan-
gerous a disposition that Col. Benton declared he dared not risque
his life in the same state with him, and for that reason removed
out of it ; who caused the lives of two men to be taken contrary
to the sentence of a court martial instituted by him for the ex-
press purpose of their trial ; a man, who, against both the letter
and the spirit of the constitution, undertook to administer martial
law over the civil rights of the people, who were not subject to his
authority ; and under color of that law, attempted to break down
the liberty of the press ; suspend the judicial and legislative pow-
ers of the government ; and in violation of the law of nations as
well as of the United States, arrested and imprisoned the French
consul, and banished all the French citizens resident at New Or-
leans, and who were alien friends, to a place one hundred and
twenty miles distant from their homes. And who, because Lauil-
lier, a member of the legislature, and a respectable and worthy
citizen, published in a newspaper some appropriate strictures on
his illegal conduct, ordered him arrested and put on trial, as for a
capital offence, by a court martial ; and when that court acquitted
him, disapproved of the sentence, and would not discharg-e him
from imprisonment ; who imprisoned a Jud^e of the United'states
Court for issuing a writ of habeas corpus for the release of
Lauillier, and treated the process of the wTit with contempt ; who

[on j

arrested and imprisoned Mr. Dick for procuring a writ for the re-
lease of the judge ; who caused two hundred of the militia of his
own state to be ignominiously punished, six of them with death,
acrainst the positive law of the land, and under circumstances
shocking to humanity ; who under the false pretence of public
danger, after the enemies of our country had b( en vanquished
and left our shores, subjected to the penalties of martial law three
hundred of our own citizens, not one of whom were amenable for
the violation of any law, or usage, or article of war ! ! ! who has
wa^ed war against a neutral power in violation of positive instruc-
tions ; who has openly directed the officers under his command,
to disobey the orders of the president of the United States ; and
finally, because the national senate presumed to inquire into
his outrageous and disgraceful conduct, threatened to enter into
their chamber and cut off their ears ; and was prevented from
carrying his threat into execution, only by the patriotism and cou-
rage of Decater! ! ! In ihe name of human and divine wisdom,
is such a man in the character of a chief magistrate, to be imposed
on the people of this enlightened and virtuous republic in the pre-
sent ao-e of the world I If he is. then indeed it may be said of us
that political delusion has triumphed over reason and truth. Well
then might we exclaim, whither has fled that stern integrity, that
firm and disinterested patriotism that once scorned to win a short
lived popularity at the expense of our immortal glory ; well then
may our once happy country, destined by heaven as we had fondly
hoped, to illustrate the splendid achievem.ents of her heroes, and
the wisdom of her sages in the example of her sons, be described
in the opprobrious language of the Poet,

Unpris'd are her sons 'till they learn to betray,
Undisting-uish'd they live f they shame not their sires
And the torch that would light tiiem to dignity's way
Must be caught from the pile where their country expires.

If our republic is to be saved from the disgrace and ruin with
which it is threatened, you must be persuaded, my fellow citizens,
bv the veneration which you owe to the constitution achieved by
valor and cemented by the purest blood of patriotism ; by your
reverence for the holy relics of the heroes, the sages, and mar-
tyrs of our history ; by your attachment to the laws, and your
veneration for that Eternal Power on \diose divine commandments
they are founded ; and as in the presence of your God, and under
that awful influence imposed by the late of unborn millions of
posterity ; to oppose by all lawful means, the election of Andrew
Jackson to the Presidency.

A volume could not contain a description of the various and
fatal evils we might expect would inevitably result from an admi-
nistration over which he should preside. If our republic must
fall, as it probably would, and that very soon, if committed to the
administration of that man and his political advocates, it is hoped
our honest and intelligent citizens will cling to it while it has life

r

ill it, and even longer than there is hope ; let. them be auxiliary
to its virtues ; and if death must be its fate, let them exhaust the
last power of mtellect, that they may protract its dying nature,
and from its expiring convulsions snatch the spirit of'liberty, and'
render its reign on earth immortal.

• The assertion which is too often made that there is no difference
in the moral characters of men is absurd and dangerous. Al-
though it should be admitted, that all men are equally actuated
by motives of personal interest, yet universal observation proves,
that tne conduct of men in pursuit of the same object, is widely
different. . While one scrupulously resolves to make his interest
coincide with his duty to his fellow citizens and his country, we
see others in pursuit of the same object, obviously disregard every
obligation imposed by either moral or legal restraints.

The world has been ransacked in vain to find causes of accusa-.
tion against the public or private character of President Adams,
and because his enemies can find none, they pronounce him a
cunning, designing man, and {hypocrite. But when Andrew
Jackson has without shame, and apparently without remorse, vio-
lated the sacred obligations which should "bind together society,
and rendered hii)*self a dangerous man even in private life, and
under the color of a httle brief mihtary power, set at defiance
every principle on which the superstructure of our republic is
founded, and violated even the laws of humanity, \yhich should
distinguish the civil from the savage state ; he is pronounced by
his political advocates the more honest man, and most worthy of
the chief magistracy. But whatever may be the success, attendin<T
the impositions of a desperate faction, it cannot change the etei°
nal laws which discriminate between the characters of men.
There is a difference between virtue and vice, between wisdom
and folly ; there are such qualities as patriotism, as the love of
honour, of truth, of justice and humanity, which mark the con-
duct of different men and distinguish their characters. Whoever
shall attempt to ascribe corrupt motives to conduct in itself praise-
worthy, and morality to mere human contrivance and pc htical
skill, would undermine the foundation of all virtue and subvert
the order, the peace, and safety of society ; as well may they
justify the commission of every crime, and the practice of every
vice, by ascribing to its author motives of benevolence, patriotism
and philanthropy.

But such are some of the absurd pretensions, by which the op-
posers of President Adams and his administration, would impose
on the credulity of honest freemen. While they would ascribe
the most important political conduct of his life which have con-
ferred upon him the fame of an illustrious statesman and pure
patriot, to the arts of hypocrisy, they are willing to ascribe to
Andrew Jackson motives of zeal for the public good, in justifica-
tion of the most flagrant and wanton violations of law, justice and
humanity.

They first hoped to gain the confidence of the people in their

positive denials of the charges against him ; but when their truth
was demonstrated before the public, by the records of his admi-
nistration, and the testimony of living witnesses, they attempted
to justify his conduct from the exigencies of public danger ; and
when it is proved by comparing even his own declaration with the
dates of events, that such exigencies did not exist at the time,
when under this delusive pretence, he was treating with contempt
the vital principles of the constitution, and inflicting the punish-
ment of ignominy and death on our own citizens ; excited by the
insanity of party zeal, they are ready to ascribe all his errors and
his vices to the ardency of his patriotism. Such are the absurdi-
ties to which men would resort in the madness of their ambition.
But those who had the presumption to place his name on the list
of candidates for the Presidency, could never believe that the in-
telligent freemen of the United States, unless under the influence
of gross imposition, would ever elevate to the supreme magistracy,
a man, whose only passport to power was his despotic will, his
courage and his sword.

APPENDIX.

The reasons stated by General Jackson for proposing to tli©-
legislature to suspend the writ of Habeas Corpus, and afterwards
for the proclamation of martial law, were, that intimation had been
privately given, that some disaffected persons were to be found in
New Orleans.

That there was any danger to be apprehended from such per-
sons there has been no proof exhibited to the public. On Gen.
Jackson's arrival at New Orleans, the whole population of that
place -devoted itself to the defence of the country : a levy en mass
was effected. Even the old men organized themselves into
companies, and the ladies employed themselves in making clothes
for the militia.*

But take the testimony of Gen. Jackson himself. In his letter
to the Mayor of New Orleans, dated January 27, 1815, he says,
** I pray you, sir, to communicate to your respectable city, the ex-
alted sense I entertain of their patriotism, love of order, and at-
tachment to the principles of our excellent constitution. Seldom
in any community has so much cause been given for deserved
praise. While the young were in the field and arresting the pro-
gress of the foe, the aged watched over the city, and preserved its
internal peace ; and even the softer sex encouraged their husbands
and brothers, to remain at the post of danger and duty."

This letter, it will be noticed, was written nineteen days after
the celebrated victory, and when General Jackson must have had
all the evidence of the dangerous disposition of the citizens of
New Orleans that he ever could expect.

*' AH the inhabitants of Louisiana vied in zeal for the service of
their colmtry, and strained every nerve to repulse the enemy."

Neither has there been any evidence before the public that there
was a traitorous disposition in the legislature, which could justify
General Jackson in suspending the legislative authorities.

It is said that General Jackson received a suggestion that there
was a panic among the members of the legislature, and a thought
entertained by them of a capitulation.! This imputation the
whole of the legislature have always solemnly denied. And their
conduct gives no color to such a charge.

On the arrival of General Jackson at New Orleans, the legisla-
ture voted $65,000 for new fortifications, and put $6000 in the

* Sec 17th page.

f Latour's Historical Memoirs of the War in West Florida and Louisiana.

F

[42]

hands of Commodore Patterson for the purpose of hiring additional
seamen.

General Jackson, however, sent an aid to the city with orders
to the Governor to institute a Mrict inquiry into this matter ; and
if it was true that the mi^mbers meditated such a thing, to blow
them up into the air.* The aid, sent to the Governor, without
such investigation, introduced an armed force into the halls of the
legislature, and expelled the members .wit'h the point of the bayo-
net,! and General Jackson sanctioned and approved the measure.
He had previous to this proposed to the legislature to suspend
the writ of Habeas Corpus ; and thus put the personal security of
every man in the state except himself, beyond the reach of all
protection or safeguard.!

The resolution of the legislature declining the adoption of so
violent a measure, placed their relusal chiefly on the ground of
the apprehension that it might chill the enthusiasm then prevail-
ing— interrupt the excellent feeling then so general — and thus
impede the preparations for defence. This w^as two weeks before
any enemy was heard of in the neighborhood |

They had another ground which should have satisfied the Gen.
They had no authority to suspend that writ. An authority which
it is denied Congress has any legal power to exercise.

/'The legislature had continued to meet, notwithstanding their
forcible expulsion from the HaH by armed men, arrd the establish-
ment of military government in the city. Indeed the performance
of their functions was necessary, for the purpose of voting assist-
ance to the sick, wounded and destitute, among the militia."

A large number of the citizens in offering their services as vo-
lunteer soldiers, desired to stipulate that they might not be sent
away from the state ; to which General Jackson had returned a
refusal of their ofler ; telling them that soldiers who entered the
ranks must forget the habits of social life, and be willing to go
wherever duty and danger called them. Such were the kind of
troops he wanted and none other would he have." The citizens
of Louisiana were much disappointed and surprised by this refusal.
They desired to expose their lives in defence of New Orleans, but
"were not willing to be sent to Florida, or against the Indians on
distant campaigns, as regular enlisted soldiers, with a General
who was known to regard his own view of the occasion for their
farther service, as the only boundary to the extent of their tour of
duty ; and to contemn the militia laws as affording only subjects
for ill timed quibbles.

The refusal of the volunteers to subject themselves to be march-
ed elsewhere as soldiers, and for an unlimited time, did not pre-
Tent their active co-operation in the defence of Louisiana.

His biographer, General Eaton records ^ that during the whole
of the Indian war, of 1813 and 1814, there was a perpetual effort

* Eaton's Life, 305- t Latour's Historical Memoirs,

t The Committee reported against the propoftttion on the 16th — the landiiig of
tlTe British was on the 23rd.

[ 43 J

on the part of General Jackson, to compel the militia to serve
longer than they were bound to do by the law. That those who
persisted in and exercised their undeniable right: to return after a.
faithful service to theij; families, were branded by him with the
name of deserters.','* And that he caused a lieutenant, who had
served his teem fully to its end, and was returning to his home, to
be imprisoned, after having presented a pistol to the young man's
breast and compelled him to choose between death and submis-
sion. Such an effect had these tyrannical proceedings upon the
gallant Tennesseeans, that no entreaties nor force could prevail
on a regiment of the militia to remain even twenty days beyond
the legai term of their service. t

After the victory of the 8th of January, and the enemy had left
the country, the regulars, and chief part of the militia, accompa-
nied him to the city ; a large portion of the Kentucky and Louisi-
ana men were ordered to*" remain in the mud on the plantations.
These militia were detained in their wet and sickly encampment
long after all possibility of a new invasion had passed away ; not
until the 13th of March were the Kentuckians allowed to leave
the field. The unhealthiness of a constantly wet soil, caused
them to contract pernicious fevers and dysenteries, which soon
became epidemical. The effect of these disorders was speedily
seen and terribly felt — in the space of one month five hundred of
them were sacrificed in this unfeeling manner. The shocking
mortality among the drafted militia, still without any apparent
necessity, encamped on the wet soil of a plantation, excited much
disconent. These regiments were composed in a great measure
of French natives residents of New Orleans. | And their friends
were particularly dissatisfied with what they considered this need-
less and cruel exposure of their lives. The murmurs thus excited
provoked General Jackson into a new measure of severity, in an
order banishing all the French inhabitants to a distance of 120
miles, noticed in a preceding page. The class of people on
whom this heavy sentence fell, comprised a large portion of the
combati nts in the battles of the 23d of December and 8th of
January. The gallantry with which they had behaved, had been
emphatically declared by the General himself.§ If there was still
danger of a renewed invasion — two weeks after the official news
of the signing of peace — New Orleans was by this order to be
deprived of an efficient portion of its defenders — if no further
occasion for their services were apprehended, the prolonged de-
tention of their compatriots in the pestilential fields was. without
excuse, and a just cause of murmur.

These facts have been adduced to shoxv that the disaffection
among the citizens of New Orleans, and the mutiiious disposition
as he would term them, and which furnished his justification for

^Eaton'sLifCvp. 102 f Ibid, p. 119;

^ Owners of the soil, nien who Uad families anxiouslv coiicerued for their safetV',
and whose happiness depended on their return. Katon p. 272.
^ In his address to the Mayor of New Orleans, January 2f, 1815.

[ 44 j

proclaiming martial law, and the abuses he practiced in the admi-
nistration of it, originated from his despotic and unreasonable
measures. And that whatever of an unfriendly disposition might
be discoverable against him, in the cause in which he was engaged,
among the members of the legislature, was attributable entirely
to his usurpation, and unprecedented, and wanton interference
with their civil rights by violence.

On the 2d of February, 1815, they passed a vote of thanks to
the brave citizen soldiers,, the subaltern officers, and the Generals ;
omitting all notice of General Jackson. Latour, 205. These
resolutions were communicated by the Governor to Gei|erals .
Thpmas, Adair, Carroll and Col. Hinds, of the Kentucky, Ten-
nessee, and Mississippi militia.

The legislature did not act without provocation in this mark of
disrespect. The insult they received in being violently expelled
from their Hall, and the insinuations made against the patriotism
of their citizens, in the General Orders declaring martial law — in-
sinuations which no one else had uttered — which had been amply
refuted by the good conduct of the whole population, and yet had
not been withdrawn, seemed to them to require apology and ex-
planation. They were displeased with the ill-timed introduction
of the press gang system, when all were so willing to serve with-
out being pressed. They thought such a severity calculated only to
create the disaffection which they did not believe existed at the
time of General Jackson's asserting it. They disapproved of
the injustice of keeping their citizens of the drafted militia — the
householders of New Orleans — still in a sickly camp, when the
" more hardy regulars were allowed to lounge idly in the streets and
taverns of New Orleans. They disliked also the crowning and
other excessive honors paid to and accepted by General Jackson,
to the exclusion of all others, as if he alone deserved praise, and
the gallant Coffee, Adair, Carroll, &c. merited no compliment.
They wished to show especially their sense of the merits of those
officers and their troops, to whom there had been yet no honors or
acknowledgments awarded."

It appears then that the disaffection of the legislature of Loui-
siana was pointed against the character and conduct of General
Jackson, and not against the war.

But aside from his administration of martial law at New Orleans,
there are many other acts of his public life, ^v1lich evince equally
his contempt of the laws as well as his want of either talents or
knowledge as a civilians, or statesman.

"The history of his conduct in the forcible seizure of Florida,
a neutral country, will show there was not the shadow of neces-
sity for this violent attack upon a friendly power. But there arc
some facts connected with this transaction, and the capture of
Pensacola, which may explain the motives of his conduct. It was
in evidence, before the Committee of the Senate, that in the fall
of 1817, several gentlemen of Nashville, (among whom were

John Donnelsou, the nephew of the General, and John H. Eaton,
his biographer,) formed a company, to speculate in lots and
lands in Pensacoia. Mr. Donnelson, as their agent, went on, with
authority to make purchases to an amount not exceeding ^ lb, 000,
and succeeded to his wishes. Mr. Liaton, in his testimony, says,
that his inducements to make this adventure, was, that he believed
the country would ultimately belong to the United States."

It is a singular coincidence, considering the intimate relation
between the parties, that the speculation is hardly secured by
deed, until General Jackson advances with an American army —
invades the country — seizes the forts — occupies Pensacoia — and
then endeavors by influence and arguments, to induce his govern-
ment so retain the conquest, at the expense of justice, right, and
tranquillity. The people will judge how far the General was con-
cerned in this adventure.

We will now examine some of the acts of Gen. Jackson as a civil
magistrate, and we shall see that the same overbearing violence
of temper, the same self-willed, despotic exercise of power, have
been manifested m his public conduct. Upon the cession of Flo-
rida to the United States, Gen Jackson was appointed governor
of that territory. His own view of the arbitrary authority vested
in him, appears from his letter to Captain Bell, dated August 13,
1821. In which he says, "I despatched an express on to you
with sundry ordinances, which I found it necess9,ry to adopt for
the better organization of the Floridas." The constitution of
Spain, providing for the trial by jury in criminal cases, although
never extended to the colonies, because the treaty ceding the
Floridas was concluded before the constitution was adopted, &-c,
in Spain." Here is a most extraordinary declaration from the
republican Governor of a ceded territory, which-it was intended
might hereafter become a member 5f our Union. The trial by
jury, the freeman's dearest right, is not to be allowed, because
the country was ceded, before Spaniards had obtained that priv>
lege under the new constitution ; and the rights of the people
were to be determined and regulated by the " ordinances" of the
Governor — that is by the simple declaration of his will. Thus
the condition of Florida was to be improved by substituting his
will for the right of trial by jury, and we shall lind the Governor
acted under this impression. In a former letter to Captain Bell, .
he had said, " the Spanish laws and usage-* are in force :" his
ordinances were to declare what the Spanish laws were, and
afterwards in the letter last referred to, he adds, " The Judge
(appointed by the President,) can exercise no other power, (ex-
cept so far as relates to carrying into effect the acts extended
over the Floridas,) unless specially given him by the President.
Such instructions have not been given, and I doubt very much,
whether the President could give them. There is no doubt that
the person exercising the power of the Governor of East Florida,
can exercise all the powers exercised under the King of Spain, at
the time the country was ceded." This power we know was arbi-

i

/

[ 4t; j

^rary and despotic. Spain had not reformed her constitution af.
the time, and hence as the General argues, the pieople of Florida
could not have ihe benefit of tJie trial by jury in criminal cases.
This assumption of regal prerogative is left to the consideration
of those who admire the republican princ pies of Gen. Jackson.

Let us proceed to his practical illustration of his powers By
tliQ treaty of cession, all the archieves and documents relating to
the " property and sovereignty of the country," were to be given
up. The General undertook to interpret this, as including papers
relative to private property ; and a complaint having been made
that some such were in the possession i)f the late Spanisii Gover-
nor Callava, an order was issued that he should deliver them
forthwith. They were refused, and instead of sending a civil offi-
cer with process, General .*ackson issued to Colonel Brooke the
followmo military requisition : " You will furnish an officer, ser-
geant, corporal, and twenty men, and direct the officer to call on
me by half past eight o'clock for orders. They will have their
arms and accoutrements complete, with twelve rounds of ammu-
mti^^n." This was accordingly doiie, and Lieutenant Mountz,
officer of the guard, " was directed to take Colonel Callava into
custody, &c." They found him at his house on the bed, and he
complained of being too ill to go with them ; but as Messrs. But-
ler and Bronaugh reported to his excellency, " he seemed to act
without much difficulty svhen the guard was ordered to prime and
load," — the defenceless dignitary was thus dragged by military
force before Governor Jackson, and finally committed to prison :
in the mean time his house was entered by order ; boxes were
broken open, and paper> taken out. But we have not given you
the whole case. . Judcre Fromentin, who had been commissioned
by the President, judicial o^cer of the territory, w^as applied to
by the friends of Colonel Callava, for a habeas corpus. Suppos-
ing that the country ceded to the United States, should share in
some degree, the benignity of a free government, he allowed the
writ. General Jackson whem informed of it directed Captain
Wager to inform Mr. Fromentin that the prisoners would he kept
confined until released by his orders ; and at the same time issued
his precept to bring the Judge before him, to answer for having
attempted to interfere with his authority, — overwhelmed by arbi-
trary power, — brow beaten and insulted, the Judge was compelled
to yield his official dignity and his personal independence.

/J'his was for having dared as the General says, to issue a
habeas corpus. But to cap the climax of tyranny, the Spanish
officers, President at Pensacola for many years, and owning large
property,) were ordered by proclamation, dated 29th of Septem-
ber, to leave thr country in four days,-' Their offence was the
publication, in a newspaper, of a paragr^gh. questioning the ac-
curacy of the interpreter^who b#d^ssisted:flt the examination of
Colonel Callava ; and two of these gentlemen ventured to return
in some sjiort time to look afler their affairs, and in pursuance of
the Governor's order, were arrested and conlined in prison. For-
tunately for them (as no habeas corpus could bring relief.") Gen.

L ^^ J

Jackson resigned, and the case having been communicated to the
President, he at once directed their discharge, after a confinement of
more than three months and a half. By this sketch of his a<iminis-
tration in Florida, as a civil magistrate, his advocates cannot urge in
his defence that he was mipelled by necessity, or the exigencies of"
public danger, but by the same ungovernable disposition to make his
own despotic will the rule of his actions, which has directed his con-
duct in every situation wherein he has been entrusted with power.

It will be seen in the above statement, that his egregious blunder
in the construction of the treaty of cession, by interpreting the archives
and documents relating to the property or sovereignty of the country _^
as intending papers relative to private property, led him to those
outrageous violations of the rights of Colonel Callava, Judge Fro
mentin, and the Spanish officers.

His invasion of Florida v/as without authority, and in violation of
the constitution, and the orders of the President. In the year 1818,
some acts of violence were committed on the borders of Georgia by
the Seminole Indians. General Jackson was ordered to make a re-
quisition on the Governor of Teiuiessee for a militia force hi aid of
the Georgia militia " already called out, for the purpose of restoring
order, lie disobeyed the orders, preferring to raise volunteers to
"whom he could appoint officers, and collected a force of 2500 men
without authority, whom he organized by appointing officers, and
then led them into Florida to captiire the Spanish posts.

The merits of this expedition into Florida became the subject ©f
warm discussion in Congress ; and in each house a report was ma«Ie
by a committee, censuring the General's proceedings. In the House
of Representatives, the committee founded their censure on thejunine-
cessary putting to death of the prisoners after the war was closed- —
the irreaularity of their trial-^the unfairness of refusing them benefit
of theyvidence they desired — the erroneous principles of national hiw
advanced — and the execution of one against the opinion of the coijirt.
In the Senate, the committee reported very much in detail, and in
very strong terms of censure. '^ It is with regret the committee sptidj.
they were compelled to declare, that General Jdckson has disregarded
the positive orders of the department of war, the constitution, and the
laws." '* Tfie committee find the melancholy fact before them, that at
this early stage of the republic, military officers have, without the
shadow of authority, raised an army of at least 2500 men, and mus-
tered them into the service of the United States. Two hundred and
thirty officers have been appointed, and their rank established, from
an Indian brigadier-general, to the lowest subaltei'n of a company.
To whom were these officers accountable for their conduct ? Not to
the President of the United States. For it was not considered neces-
sary even to furnish him with a list of their names ; and not until the
pay was demanded, were the persons known to the department of
war "

The session of Congress to which this committee reported, passed
by without any decisive vote on the subject.

Nile's Register, Vol. XV. p. 305.

[-4S j

The unfortunate dilemma in which the government was placed, bv
General Jackson's illegal and disgraceful conduct, has been noticed
in a preceding page.*

A detail of all the public acts of his life wliich would only add to
the proofs already adduced, of his tyrannical and dangerous disposi-
tion, or his profound ignorance of the construction and legal inter-
pretation of the laws, might swell this short address to a large
volume.

It cannot be possible that a man whose whole course of public
conduct has been marked by violence, usurpation, and tyranny, will
by the enlightened and virtuous freemen of the United States, be
chosen, to preside over the destinies of the only free republic on the
globe.

^ Seepage 15.

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